


Emerald Archer Martial Arts

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babies, Come join me if you'd like, Cute Kids, Domestic Fluff, Emerald Archer Martial Arts, F/M, Family Fluff, Fix-It, Gay William Clayton, Happily Ever After, Married Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Mia Smoak is a badass, Mild Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mixed Martial Arts, Post-Season 7 AU, Raising children, Retirement, Smoak Technologies, Smoak-Queen Family, This is the universe I am going to live in now, You can take this as an alternate Season 8 if you want
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-05 04:49:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18358949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: In May 2019, a tired Oliver Queen and four months pregnant Felicity Smoak retire from their vigilante duties and move to the redwood forest town of Bloomfield with their son William, to raise their family in peace.Along the journey, they build their own successful companies, increase the size of the Smoak-Queen clan by a couple more, train their kids in self-defense, and live out a blissful existence.This is the story of 7 years of their happiness and family antics, after 7 years of crime-fighting and hardship to save their city.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> To say I'm heartbroken by the revelation that Emily is leaving Arrow at the end of Season 7 is an understatement.
> 
> I know many people are upset and worried that Oliver and Felicity won't get the happy ending they deserve - we already know they spent twenty years apart and Oliver doesn't get to play a part in raising his children - and although I'm sure the show will eventually show how those twenty years were worth it, this fic has been written for everybody who would have liked to see Oliver and Felicity living blissful, happy retired lives, raising their family together.
> 
> Although I am pissed about the fact Arrow is continuing without Emily, despite her being such a huge, massive part of why the show has made it this far, and I hate the idea that the show is being forced to continue into Season 8 despite the actors wanting to end on their own terms in Season 7, this fic is literally just meant to be a little AU of "what could have been". I don't personally plan on watching Season 8 - I might keep up on social media and Watchover podcasts - so this is just gonna be my universe I live in during the summer, lol.
> 
> Massive thanks to Jesi (@jesileighs) for all of her help with this fic, contributing ideas and discussing story points with me. Her wonderful daughter Norah AKA Mini Felicity is actually the person who inspired this fic in the first place, when I saw the photos Jesi was posting of her at her MMA classes. Toddler/kid Mia in this fic is basically Norah lol. And Archer the dog is also Jesi's amazing dog Archer.
> 
> The entire fic is around 70 pages, upwards of 30k words. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully, it will help slightly dull your pain xx

At the end of May 2019, after they finished dealing with the annual spring disaster and Star City was safe again, and looked to be safe for the near future, Oliver and a four-month pregnant Felicity retired from Team Arrow and their vigilante duties, moving to the small town of Bloomfield. With John’s help, they bought a sweet little four bedroom cabin deep in a redwood forest, who aided Felicity in setting it up so it was off the grid. The rest of Team Arrow were under the impression that Oliver and Felicity had just decided it was time to focus more on their family than the city - they still had no idea about Felicity’s pregnancy - but supported their pursuits.

William moved back in with them at the end of his school year, furious and upset that his grandparents had refused him any contact with his father and step-mother. It was actually with Laurel’s help that they were able to secure full custody of their son and force the Claytons to back down. William was absolutely thrilled to learn that he was going to be a big brother, and joined Oliver in buying a huge number of baby products and baby-proofing the whole house over the summer.

When she was eight months pregnant, a week before Dr Schwartz strictly told her she needed to go on bed rest, Felicity successfully launched Smoak Technologies using the ARCHER program and other DNA based software and hardware. ARGUS and the United States government were her main buyers and investors. As Felicity owned the old building Queen Consolidated and Palmer Tech had been based in, due to Ray having transferred the deed over when he’d given her all of the stocks, she was able to move her new company out of the Loft and into proper offices. Although she remained the CEO of Smoak Tech and was able to run it from her home office, she appointed Alena CTO and gave her a large amount of control over the research and development occurring at Smoak Tech HQ. By the time their baby was born, the company was already worth tens of millions of dollars.

Mia Emily Smoak-Queen was born on October 10th 2019 in the early afternoon. A local doctor who was friends with Dr Schwartz came to their cabin to help deliver the baby, while John took William out for the day while Felicity’s labor intensified. Oliver didn’t let go of his wife’s hand for a single second as she cried and screamed.

_“I love you so much.”_

_“I love you so much - I’ll love you even more when this baby’s out of me!”_

Their daughter was perfect. Oliver and Felicity held her in bed for hours and hours, just staring at this tiny human being that the two of them had produced in utter awe and adoration. Mia squirmed and huffed and blinked up at them with shockingly deep blue eyes, and when Oliver cradled her for the first time to his bare chest, tearful and overjoyed, he swore to himself that he would die to protect this precious little girl if he had to, and he would spend the rest of life devoted to being the best parent possible to her and William. He could tell by Felicity’s wonderstruck expression and possessiveness of Mia that she felt the same way. 

(She wouldn’t even let John hold her when he brought William back until Oliver had rested his hand on her shoulder and reassured her that it was okay. Even then, she refused to move from their best friend’s side until she had Mia safely back in her arms. She was terrified of losing her daughter.)

Oliver felt like he was living a dream. He honestly didn’t care much that he barely slept two hours a night during Mia’s first couple of months because of her sporadic crying sessions and constant need to be fed; he got to cuddle her and sing lullabies and tell her stories about her parents and Team Arrow’s heroics, and that was all he could ever ask for. Although he missed being the Green Arrow, nothing was better than getting to live happily with his wife and children. He made Mia a star necklace out of some of his titanium alloy arrowheads and a platinum chain, with ‘ _always and forever, our little star_ ’ engraved on the back. She was too small and fragile to wear the necklace now, but Felicity promised to keep it safe for her until she was old enough to keep it safe.

Felicity remained in a constant state of either exhaustion, anxiety or total glee. She was concerned about the safety of their family due to what had happened to her and William when they’d been in witness protection. Between Skype meetings with the Smoak Tech board, caring for their baby and helping William study, she developed new home security equipment to made sure they were all protected. It was a miracle that she was able to do so much at once - Oliver was truly impressed, but not surprised, as his wife was a genius, after all - but Oliver and William watched over her to ensure she didn’t overextend herself.

William was incredible with his baby sister. He helped Oliver and Felicity with every task: feeding her, burping her, bathing her and playing with her. Every time he went out into town to fetch supplies or to baseball practice, he returned with a new baby toy or onesie for Mia that he bought her with his own money he earned working at the local grocers with Mrs Carver. He claimed that he couldn’t stop himself; he just loved Mia so much and wanted the best for her. When he wasn’t doing homework or extra credit projects - he’d been accepted into a specialized science pre-college program where he got to skip a high school grade - he was reading _The Wizard of Oz_ and _Lord of the Rings_ to Mia as she napped in her cot, or playing with her as she sat in her bouncer swing. He was the most amazing brother.

At the beginning of December 2019, Barry, Kara, their teams and the Legends requested Oliver’s help dealing with a crisis encompassing the entire multiverse and beyond.

Oliver paid the Monitor’s price. He did as the omniscient cosmic entity had ordered, in exchange for Barry and Kara’s lives last year.

He said no.

The Monitor had said that by ensuring Barry and Kara were there to fight the battle for the multiverse, Oliver had to swear not to get involved. He was exchanging himself for Kara and Barry in every aspect - and therefore, if they were fighting, he wasn’t allowed to fight. It was torturous, knowing that he wasn’t allowed to unite with the rest of the superheroes to save the universe and protect his family and friends.

But the battle was won without him. The Green Arrow wasn’t forced to come out of retirement. Everything was peaceful.

It was inevitable that Rene and Dinah would eventually find out about baby Mia. They were hurt and slightly pissed that Felicity hadn’t told them she was expecting, but they understood. They promised to remain in Star City with John and Lyla to carry on the legacy of Team Arrow, but to be available to provide help and support if Oliver, Felicity and their family ever needed it.

Mia continued to grow and grow. She was very advanced, according to the local doctor. Physically, she could roll herself over at three months, sit up at four, pull herself up to standing at five and crawl like a champion at six. Mentally, she gave her first smile (at William) at a month, she could recognize and listen to all of them by two months, she was laughing and babbling by three months, and said her first proper word at six months. Her first word was ‘ma’ must to Felicity’s joy and Oliver’s silent disappointment, but ‘da’ and ‘ill’ shortly followed behind. It wasn’t uncommon to find her following William around the house, crawling behind him and calling his name; by the time she started walking and stumbling about by nine months, she’d become a little rascal. While she was a happy, confident and active baby, she was cheeky and mischievous as well. Her favorite game with Oliver was pretending to cry when he was cutting her nails or brushing her little tufts of blonde hair, and then giggling at him when he reacted.

At a year, they celebrated Mia’s first birthday with just the four of them. Mia had no clue what was going on, after all, so it didn’t need to be a big party. But she ran for the first time, running across the room from her mother’s arms into her father’s. William cheered as Oliver and Felicity cuddled her, praising her for her bravery, and Mia was so pleased with herself.

It wasn’t all fun and games, of course. For the first two years of Mia’s life, the word ‘sleep’ wasn’t in Oliver or Felicity’s vocabulary. It wasn’t until she was fourteen months old that Mia started sleeping through the night. The first time it happened, Oliver had to check with Barry that he hadn’t accidentally stepped onto one of the alternate Earths. Mia also decided between her sixteenth and eighteenth months that screaming was her favorite thing to do, because she learned that if she screamed, she got a reaction. Oliver hated it when she cried and bent over backward to fix whatever it was that was upsetting her as soon as possible, but Felicity was a little sterner and wiser, and realized after a week or two of Mia’s hissy fits that she was only screaming in front of Oliver because she knew that she’d get her own way with him. Thankfully, she grew out of that rather quickly.

The day before Mia’s second birthday in 2021, Oliver was baking a chocolate cake - his daughter’s favourite kind - in the kitchen, with Mia in her high chair watching him delightedly, Felicity taste-tasting from where she was working on Smoak Tech paperwork at the table, and William making a poster on epigenetics on the floor, when his son asked him an unexpected question.

“Dad, will you train me in self-defense?”

Oliver paused in his cream whipping to cast a confused gaze behind him. “You said last year that you didn’t want any training.”

“I know, but that was before you went to -” he glanced at Mia, deciding to spell out the word instead of saying it, “P-r-i-s-o-n, and Felicity and I were attacked by the crazy lizard -”

“- Dragon,” Felicity corrected.

“- Lizard guy and nearly killed. I know I said I just wanted a life as a normal kid, but… we’re not a normal family, even if we are living here in Bloomfield now. We always end up involved in trouble somehow. I want to make sure I can help protect Felicity and Mia if something happens. And I want to be able to protect myself. I don’t want to feel helpless any more.”

Oliver and Felicity exchanged looks. Felicity quirked an eyebrow at him, placing her pen down to lift Mia out of her high chair and onto her lap, as she’d started to whimper and reach out for her, demanding, “I go to ma.”

William had a very good point; even though they were retired vigilantes and several hours away from Star City, there was always a chance that danger could find them. The two of them had already agreed that Mia would be trained from an early age in self-defense and several martial art styles; it was understandable that William wanted to know how to protect himself, and sensible for him to train as well now he’d moved back in with them.

“Okay,” Oliver agreed. “We’ll start this Sunday. Take it by a week by week basis. If you’re going to learn to fight, you’re going to need to learn about keeping fit too. So every day after school, we’re going to run and work-out together for an hour.”

William grimaced. “You’re not going to beat me into shape like you did the Team Arrow newbies, are you? Felicity told me how that went. I’m not training to be a vigilante… I just want to know how to stop a guy pointing a gun at me.”

The archer schooled his face into a serious expression, trying to hold back his amused smile. “I’m not going to take it easy on you because you’re my son… or because you’re just fifteen. But no, I’m not going to beat you into shape. Don’t worry.”

“I don’t want to learn to shoot a bow either,” William told him. “I’d rather become the next Overwatch than the next Green Arrow, no offense. I’m better with tech than my fists.”

That made Felicity beam smugly, sticking her tongue out at her husband. Mia squealed happily on her lap, clapping her hands, which made William laugh and kneel in front of her, clapping out a rhythm that the baby matched with another joyful sound. Oliver shook his head fondly at their antics and scooped up a blob of chocolate frosting on his finger to feed to Mia. She immediately turned her attention to her father, grabbing his hand and emitting a series of cheerful babbles and butchered words that obviously meant that the frosting was delicious. When Felicity batted her eyes at him with an innocent look, Oliver grabbed a spoonful of the frosting for her as well, passing it over. Then, when William claimed it was unfair everybody got frosting except for him, he allowed his son a spoonful as well. By the time it actually came to ice the chocolate cake, the bowl was half empty. Despite the lack of frosting, the cake was still greatly enjoyed by the Smoak-Queen family, the Diggle family, Rene, and Dinah on Mia’s birthday.

William trained hard over the next two months with Oliver, increasing and developing his fighting and defense skills. By the time Hanukkah came around, William could hold his own against his father in a sparring match if Oliver put in about 50% effort, but that was remarkable considering that William could barely throw a proper punch without hurting himself at the beginning of their training. Satisfied that his son had progressed well, Oliver dropped back their number of sessions per week after 2021 rolled over into 2022; William was fit, healthy and strong thanks to their running and workouts and didn’t need much teaching anymore, just practice. Friday evenings and Sunday mornings were deemed training time, with Friday being cardio and Sunday being hand-to-hand.

When Oliver was waiting to pick William up from after-school robotics club, some of his son’s friends’ parents approached him. The citizens of Bloomfield were aware of Oliver’s past life as the Green Arrow, so they had been wary of him at first, but after he’d joined the school parents’ association and began volunteering at an animal shelter, they’d warmed up to him. Now, he was the dad everybody was friendly with.

“George and Kelsey have been telling us about William getting MMA training from you,” Simon, the parents of two twins William studied Chemistry with, said conversationally. “A lot of the kids have been expressing interest.”

“Yes, Joseph won’t stop asking for lessons,” Amy, another parent, nodded. “We tried to sign him up for a kids MMA class, but the nearest gym is an hour away by car and far too expensive.”

“We were wondering if you’d maybe be interested in opening up your training to other children?” Simon questioned. “The school’s gym can be rented out in the evenings and at weekends for a good price, and I’m sure enough kids would be interested that it would pay for itself.”

To say Oliver was shocked would have been an understatement. “You really think parents would want me training their kids?” he asked skeptically. “An ex-vigilante who’s unqualified in teaching?”

“I think being the Green Arrow is what makes you qualified,” Amy shrugged. “I’d sign Joseph up.”

“And I’d sign up George and Kelsey,” Simon said.

A couple other parents were nodding behind them, having been listening in on the conversation. Needless to say, it gave the archer a lot to think about.

He talked about it with Felicity that night after Mia had been put down to sleep and William had gone to bed. He explained what the parents had said to him and what he was thinking of doing, but also told her about his worries and doubts about whether he would be qualified to teach children.

“I think you’d be an amazing teacher, Oliver. We can look into qualifications you need to become an MMA teacher together, if you’d like.”

“You really think this is a good idea?”

“You said you wanted to find a new purpose here,” she told him, cupping his face tenderly. “I think it’s a great idea if it’s what you want to do.”

“I think I do,” he admitted.

“Then let’s get researching.”

Several hours of research later and Oliver was signed up to an online 2-month express course from the Institute of Martial Arts & Sciences to get the Martial Arts Instructors Award. It would provide him with every qualification he could possibly need to open and run a martial arts club legally, properly and successfully. He needed to attend two weekends worth of hands-on training at the college itself to prove his competency at the martial arts and complete a first aid course, but the rest of his studying could be done at home.

Within a day of signing up for the course, he got a personal phone call from the head of the institute, who was utterly astonished and exhilarated that the Green Arrow himself was taking part in the course. Although Oliver had signed up for the course beginning in March, they were willing to accept him for the January course, which had only begun a week ago, to get him qualified as quickly as they could. They didn’t need him to attend the first weekend’s on-site training, as they knew for certain that he didn’t need to prove his fighting capabilities.

The next week, Oliver told Simon and Amy discreetly about the course and that if he passed, he would be opening up a beginner’s MMA class in the spring. They both promised not to tell anybody else or spread the word around, but somehow the information still got out. Oliver got over a dozen calls, twenty emails and several letters from parents at William’s school and from around the town, who were interested in getting their children on the waiting list. There was no waiting list. But apparently there was one now.

“Maybe you should do something different,” William suggested, as he had to sweep the pile of letters off the coffee table to prop his feet up and feed Mia. “You know the parents want the kids involved in the class, but what about the kids themselves? You should get the kids to apply rather than their parents.”

“Will’s onto something,” Felicity said, tilting her head. “Maybe you should interview the kids… or get them to write application letters about why they’d like to join the class.”

That was what they went with in the end. In February, two weeks before Oliver’s teaching course was finishing - he’d aced all of the online exams, so he knew it was highly likely he was going to pass - they put out a call at William’s school and the other local institutions for written applications to the Green Arrow’s beginner’s MMA class.

The number of applications they got was astounding.

“I was thinking of running a class of ten students, but I think I might have to up my numbers,” Oliver said, dazed, as he read his twenty-sixth letter.

“You could run two classes,” William suggested. “You’re going to rent the school’s field from four o’clock until six every Thursday evening, right? Run two one-hour lessons, each with ten students. That way you can pick twenty kids.”

“There are well over fifty applications, Will,” Felicity told him. “Your dad would still be turning a lot of these kids down.”

“And it’s going to be almost impossible to choose,” Oliver shook his head. “Do they give you lessons on persuasive writing or something in schools these days? I want to accept every one of these children.”

Mia, sensing her father’s anxiety, released the nipple of her bottle to tell him solemnly, “Da stop sad.”

“Daddy’s just a little stressed, little star, don’t worry,” he kissed her forehead lightly, grinning when she smiled and hummed.

“Well, let’s start narrowing it down,” Felicity proposed. “Let’s sort the letters into age brackets of the kids, and then into reasons they want to join the class.”

It took a while, but with Felicity and William’s help, Oliver was able to choose twenty kids and separate them into two classes. All of the children were between the ages of eight and sixteen. Most of them wanted to join the class for fun, but there were a couple of the children that had deeper reasons. Four of the kids were being bullied. Two of them had abusive parents and wanted to learn how to protect themselves. One sixteen-year-old boy, a grade above William, had a politician for a mother and was scared of being kidnapped and used against her by her competitors.

“We need a name and a logo,” William decided.

“It’s not a business, Will,” Oliver said gently. “It’s just a couple of classes.”

“Still need a name and a logo. At least for business cards.” Mia began repeating, “Yes, yes, yes, yes…” nodding her head along with her big brother. “See! Mia agrees. I’ll start brain-storming,” his son replied, ignoring the archer.

Oliver passed the course and got his Martial Arts Instructors Award at the beginning of March. With the town council’s permission, he set up his weekly MMA class and signed a contract to rent out William’s school’s gym for two hours every Thursday evening. The fees for the classes were just enough to cover the hiring costs; he didn’t need to make a profit from these classes after all, not when Smoak Technologies was giving them an income of over a million dollars a month.

The first two classes were a success. Oliver was comfortable with the children and they were comfortable with him; they treated him with respect as a teacher and he pushed them, but not too far to make them upset. William sat with Mia on a bench, watching from the sidelines with his baby sister and helping as a demonstrator assistant whenever Oliver needed him too.

The kids loved the lessons. The parents were impressed. Oliver enjoyed teaching.

After a month’s worth of classes on Thursday evenings, he decided to open up two more classes on Tuesdays too, once he realized that he was managing his workload and paperwork well. Twenty more kids, not just from Bloomfield but from the neighboring towns as well, joined his training regimen. It felt good to be instructing so many young kids on something he knew so much about, knowing that Oliver was potentially changing their lives by giving them this self-defense training.

“My husband, the MMA teacher, is a big hit around town,” Felicity told him over omelets, the morning after his second round of Tuesday classes. Mia was sitting between them in her high chair and she was grasping a piece of banana very tightly in her fist. Felicity tried to extract the mushed up fruit from their daughter’s hand, but Mia figured out what she was doing and hastily stuffed it into her mouth. “Everybody is talking about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. They think you should start a proper business.”

“I don’t think that’s really a good idea,” Oliver sighed, thinking of Queen Consolidated and his failures as CEO.

“You wouldn’t need to do it alone. Once you have a building, the equipment, and the staff, all you need to worry about is running your own classes.” She reached out and grasped her husband’s hand, squeezing it supportively. “And I’ll be right here by your side the whole time, if you need any help.” She shot him a winning, triumphant smile. “I do have some experience running a successful company, you know.”

At the end of William’s school year, they applied for a business license together for Oliver’s company, using one of their son’s ideas for the name: Emerald Archer Martial Arts. That summer break, William spent most of his time tailoring his college and university application, as next year would be his last at school, and helping Oliver and Felicity sort out the new business by babysitting Mia and assisting to run the MMA classes. They managed to secure a building in Hatchinfield, a town next door to Bloomfield that was a five-minute bus ride away, that used to be an old gym, so already had the correct fixtures and set up needed. Re-decorating the building, buying new training mats and equipment, and hiring staff became Oliver’s focus. Felicity insisted that the gym have a green, black and white theme and sorted through resumes for him for potential staff members, while William aided in keeping an inventory and running the accounts, as he’d learned he was pretty good at managing money.

By Mia’s third birthday, in Fall 2022, Emerald Archer Martial Arts was officially up and running in the new building with new equipment, with a group of specially picked out and vetted staff: three extra martial arts trainers, an accountant, a human resources professional, a marketing and business developer, a customer support representative, a receptionist, and a couple of janitors.

Oliver, to his utter relief, was able to take a step back. With the three new training staff members picked out, they were able to split up the classes so he was able to spend more time with his family. Mark, an ex-Marine, was going to run four two-hour long beginner and intermediate adult classes a week. Colton, who had three black belts, was taking on beginner’s children’s and adult’s classes. Jennifer, who had actually worked in ARGUS under Lyla and had been recommended for the position by her, was going to handle both intermediate children’s classes and intermediate adult classes. Oliver was going to run all different types of children’s sessions, and expert adult classes. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the other trainers with the expert classes; he knew a couple of fighting styles that the students wouldn’t have come across before thanks to his time in the Russian mob and the League of Assassins, so he knew he would present a challenge for them.

Oliver’s classes were all at the weekend, however, which meant that the rest of the week he was at home looking after his beautiful baby girl while Felicity worked on new Smoak Tech developments.

“Daddy,” Mia called, from where she was standing near the couch. She was wearing leggings and a super adorable green t-shirt with ‘I’m a superHERo’ in silver sequins on the front - something she’d picked out at the store for herself. She seemed to understand that green was a special color for their family. “Daddyyyyy.”

He laughed, looking up from where he was cranking fresh pasta out of a rolling machine. “Yeah, baby girl?”

“I wan’ cookie.”

“You’ve just had a cookie, sweetie, I don’t think Mommy would be very happy if Daddy gave you another one.”

She pouted. But then her expression hardened. “Daddy, Mia wan’ cookie. Mia get cookie.”

He glanced over at her warningly. “Mia.”

“I get a cookie,” she decided. Then she walked steadily over to the kitchen. Oliver watched in disbelief as his three-year-old daughter began pushing one of the table chairs to the counter, and then clambered on top of it after a minute’s struggle. He blinked. Mia reached for the cookie jar next to the bread bin. His daughter held her prize aloft as if it was a trophy, not a baked good, carefully closed up the cookie jar, climbed down and pushed the chair back - all without letting go of her cookie. When she spotted Oliver watching her, she flashed him a sweet little smile. “I got cookie.”

“Yes, you did,” was all Oliver responded with, too shocked to say anything else.

“Mine,” she told him, pointing at herself and then the cookie. Then she pointed at the cookie jar up on the counter. “Mine too.”

“I don’t think so, cupcake.”

“Nah,” she shook her head. “Mia knows.” She smiled at him sweetly again, then waved using her hand holding her cookie, scattering crumbs over the floor. “Okay. Bye.” She ran off into Felicity’s work office, giggling to herself.

Oliver was dumbfounded by his daughter’s cheekiness, but Felicity thought it was hilarious. “Good to know she’s keeping you on your toes in your old age,” she teased him, kissing his cheek.

“I’m not old.”

“Salt and pepper hair, honey.” She ran her fingers through it, scraping her nails over his scalp. Eyes fluttering shut, Oliver leaned into her hand with a pleased hum. He’d started growing his hair out again due to his wife’s insistence (she had this thing where she licked to tug on it) and it had now reached the length where it was considered wild and long. But Felicity still protested against him getting it cut. “You’re middle-aged, my love. The father to a teenager about to go off to university, and a toddler who is now independent enough to fetch herself a cookie whenever she wants one.” She patted his chest. “We’ll move the cookie jar to a higher shelf. And since it looks like Mia has got some natural climbing ability, I’ll look into some toddler rock climbing classes for her.”

“I don’t think we should be encouraging that behavior,” Oliver said incredulously.

“Oliver, she’s your daughter… you can’t tell me you didn’t expect this.”

“I expected her to start parkouring when she was five or six years old, not three!”

“You should take her to some of your Emerald Archer sessions. Just to watch! Not participate,” Felicity added swiftly, when Oliver shot her an outraged look. “She’s getting bored here at home, Oliver. There’s only so many times she can play on her climbing frame outside. She can’t join one of the pre-kindergarten playgroups until she’s five.”

He ran his hand over his face. “I’ll take her along with me when I run my weekend classes,” he allowed. “But that still brings the problem of engagement during the week.”

Felicity nodded, frowning as she appeared deep in thought. Then, a spark of hope and realization flashed in her eyes. “Hey. You still volunteer at the animal shelter, don’t you?”

“Yeah, on Wednesday mornings.”

“So you’ve got to know the animals there pretty well, right? What do you think about us getting a pet?”

By 2023, the Smoak-Queen family had grown by two members. They’d gone to the animal shelter during the holiday break, the four of them as a family, and fallen in love with a brown and white whippet mix dog and a silver tabby cat. Of course, they’d only been planning on adopting one animal when they walked into the shelter, but after it became obvious that there was a split between them - Mia and Felicity wanted a dog, William and Oliver wanted a cat - and the four of them had spent time with both the whippet and tabby, there was really no choice to make. They had to adopt them together. The whippet mix (a male) was named Archer after the unique white arrowhead marking on the back of his neck, which was William’s idea, and the tabby cat (a female) was called Pixel by Felicity due to the strange black and silver pattern on her belly, which Felicity claimed looked like unloaded pixels.

With both a dog and a cat at home, Mia was never bored again. She and Archer became practically inseparable; every minute of the day, they were joined at the hip. Archer followed Mia around like a loyal puppy. The whippet was incredibly sweet and gentle, as well as energetic, but it was remarkable how protective over Mia and William he was. Having a dog resulted in Oliver and Mia taking him out for walks around the redwood forest where they lived every day, which the toddler heartedly enjoyed. Pixel was a friendly cat as well, although she preferred to hang out with Felicity in her home office most of the time to avoid getting her fur tugged on by the toddler. Archer switched between sleeping on a blanket in Mia’s room and in Oliver and Felicity’s bed; Pixel only ever slept at William’s feet.

Archer was an especially big hit at Emerald Archer Martial Arts as well. He accompanied Oliver to his classes at the weekends because he brought Mia along, and she refused to come with him if her new canine best friend wasn’t allowed to come too. The whippet mix usually sat curled up with Mia on top of the mat pile in the corner of the main training room, keeping a watch over the other children and entertaining his charge. Whenever the children were frustrated or upset at not being able to manage a particular throw or failing to execute a kick properly, they went up to Archer, stroked him for a minute or two, and almost instantly calmed down enough to return to their training.

The dog had to stay in Oliver’s office whenever he was holding adult expert classes, however, as much to the archer’s amusement, Archer was equally protective over him as the children; he barked and growled whenever it looked as if Oliver got cuffed around the face or kicked in the chest or arm.

But when Archer wasn’t there to try and defend Oliver’s honor, Mia was. 

“NO HURTIN’ MY DADDY!” the toddler screamed.

The subject of her rage was Jesi, a brown belt training for national championships, who traveled two hours every Saturday for a three-on-one training class with Oliver, and for the first time since starting her Emerald Archer sessions, managed to flip him onto the floor. Not caring that Jesi was three times her height and strong enough to take on an ox, the three-year-old jumped down from the mats and pounded her tiny fists into Jesi’s legs. Taken back, Jesi hastily backed away from Mia.

“Leave ‘im alone,” Mia continued to demand. “No hurtin’ my daddy!”

Oliver stood up from where he was seated on the floor after the take-down, sweeping Mia up onto his arms and hugging her to his chest. She relaxed, but to his worry, she was shaking ever so slightly. “Hey,” he flicked her nose, eliciting a weak smile. “I’m fine, sweetie. Jesi didn’t hurt me, I promise. I let her do that for her training.”

Mia was furious. Oliver didn’t think he’d ever seen his three-year-old so mad. “Could hurt you,” she sniffed, clenching her hand around his shirt. “No-one hurts Daddy. I fight if try.”

“You’re a bit little to fight Jess at the moment, Mia,” he told her gently. “And I told you, she wasn’t hurting me. I think you should apologize for hitting her legs. That wasn’t very nice, was it? Mommy’s told you many times that it’s mean to hit people.”

“B-b-bu-but she bein’ mean to YOU!” Mia protested.

“No, we were training,” Oliver repeated. “I’d like you to say sorry to Jesi, please.”

Mia wrinkled her nose. “No.”

“Mia…”

She squirmed in his arms with an angry noise. Oliver placed her back down on the floor, glancing apologetically over at the three members of his class, all who appeared amused. Before Oliver could stop her, Mia was walking over to Jesi and tugging on the hem of her shirt.

Jesi knelt down to Mia’s height. “Yes?” she said patiently.

“You promise not tryin’ hurt my daddy?” Mia asked, her tone suspicious.

“I promise,” Jesi nodded.

Mia didn’t look very pleased, but after a moment, conceded, “‘Kay. No doin’ that again.” She wagged her finger at Jessica just like Felicity did to her when she was telling the toddler off for being naughty. “Sorry for hittin’.”

“That’s okay, pumpkin. Can I tell you a secret?” Mia nodded and leaned in, so Jesi could whisper loudly in her ear, “Your daddy is much, _much_ stronger than me, and I’m not scared of him. But I was very scared of you when you were protecting him, because you were being really brave. You’re going to be even better at being big and brave when you’re older.”

Mia looked pleased. “Thank you.”

Mia had obviously inherited her mother’s uncanny intelligence and her father’s lightning fast reflexes, because she was incredibly clever and agile for a three-year-old. While most toddlers Mia’s age could play pretend, do basic puzzles, walk, run, jump and climb, Mia could easily finish a twenty to thirty piece puzzle by herself, have a proper conversation with an adult, dodge and play tag with her brother and dog. Developmentally, she was more of a four or five-year-old than a three-year-old. She was already beginning to perfect her motor skills.

All of this was why Oliver and Felicity decided she should start being trained in self-defense at the age of four. They would start her off like they did William; give her some basic fitness training to improve her muscle tone and get her used to exercising. That would take a couple of months. They anticipated that Mia would begin her actual training in early 2024. The problem was, Oliver wasn’t going to be able to train her. He could help her out with the fitness stuff, sure, but actually teaching his beautiful baby girl self-defense? Placing himself in a position where he might need to bruise her a little to improve her reaction times and defensive instincts? Yeah, that wasn’t happening. She wouldn’t get any effective training with Oliver as her teacher.

He and Felicity went back and forth for over a month, trying to decide who should train their daughter. John, Lyla, Rene, Laurel, and Dinah were too busy in Star City to visit Bloomfield every week for training sessions. Laurel was out of the question. Roy and Thea were off traveling the world together, searching for Lazarus Pits. They finally settled on Nyssa. From what Felicity could tell from her intel, Nyssa had split off from Thea and Roy sometime in the last year and was now traversing the globe by herself. She’d essentially dropped off the grid, however, so it was going to take some time to contact her.

While Felicity spent most of her free time attempting to track down Nyssa that spring and summer, Oliver’s attention was turned to William, who was going off to university in the Fall. With his incredible GPA score of 4.3 and amazing applications, he’d been accepted into several prestigious and highly ranked colleges and university across the United States, and even been offered a place at Oxford. He’d finally decided to attend MIT on a joint honors program, where he’d be studying Computer Science and Molecular Biology, two great passions of his. It was a great choice.

The fact that he’d chosen MIT was helpful and convenient as well, because Felicity’s contacts and Smoak Technologies connections with the university allowed Oliver and Felicity to express their concerns about security to the president. As a seventeen-year-old student and being the son of the Green Arrow and CEO of Smoak Tech, William was in a unique and rather vulnerable position, where he had to think about his own protection. Felicity bought him an apartment with all of her latest home security tech installed so he didn’t have to worry about living in the dorms (and he could also take Pixel with him), but people would still know who he was because of his name - the surnames Clayton, Smoak, and Queen were all well-known at this point. In the end, the president agreed that William would be allowed to attend the university under a different name publically, William Harris, although he would remain William Clayton Smoak-Queen on all of his official forms.

It was emotionally overwhelming the weekend they flew with William to Massachusetts on Felicity’s private Smoak Tech plane. Mia cried silently the entire journey, clinging to her big brother possessively and refusing to let him go - they needed to get one of the plane seat belts for babies in the end because she began whimpering whenever Oliver or Felicity tried to lift her off William’s lap and place her in her own seat. Archer cuddled up to the two children, sensing their sadness. Pixel slept on Felicity’s lap for most of the flight, but Oliver made sure he got some proper time with her, brushing and grooming her fur as she purred, since he knew it would be a couple of months before he visited her and William.

They moved William into his apartment with all of his belongings, and although the place was furnished already, went to IKEA to get some extra furniture that he needed and spent the afternoon putting it all together. Oliver knew that they were stalling for time. Felicity had been crying every night for the last week before going to bed, devastated at the idea of their son moving away from home for the first time, to the opposite coast. Oliver wasn’t much better; internally, he was a complete and utter mess, on he was trying to remain calm and strong on the outside.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the family when it was time for them to leave. Everybody had tears in their eyes. Oliver hugged him for ten minutes, whispering in a choked voice about how proud he was and how lucky he was as a father to have such a wonderful son. William was putting on a brave face, but it was obvious he was moved. Felicity fussed over him, making him promise to text every day, call every two days and FaceTime them once a week and letting him know that if he ever wanted to talk about anything - his work, his personal life, his stress - he could contact them, and they would be there within hours to support him. William sat down on the floor to say goodbye to Archer, snuggling with the dog and murmuring what a good boy he’d been.

The distraught sobs coming from Mia’s throat as she said goodbye to her big brother caused Oliver’s heart to clench, and the only reason he didn’t fall apart in that moment was Felicity, who held his hand and leaned into his side, murmuring that it was okay. Hearing their daughter repeat over and over again in a miserable voice that she loved William and was going to miss him forever and ever was heartbreaking. She didn’t care that she would see him very soon, as William was flying back for her birthday weekend. She seemed to think that her big brother was going away forever.

She sat quietly on her own during the flight back, declining both of her parent’s offers to have her sit on their laps, or next to them. Archer rested his head on her lap, occasionally releasing soft, concerned whines and licking at Mia’s face in an attempt to cheer her up. But not even her best friend could bring Mia out of her dejected mood.

When Oliver brought her a snack over of a bag of baby carrots, pretzels and oat bites, and a carton of apple juice, Mia accepted them with a hushed thank you and clambered up onto Oliver’s knee while she ate and drank. She hadn’t shown interest in lunch and it was unlikely she would want to eat dinner either, but at least they could keep her going on her favorite healthy snacks. After she finished off the bag and carton, she didn’t protest at all when Oliver told her it was time for a nap, like she usually did. She just raised her arms up in a silent request to be carried to the private jet’s lounge couch, where Felicity had set up a pillow and her favorite blanket.

Once Mia and her dog were settled down, Oliver kissed her on the forehead and was about to leave her be when Mia tugged on his shirt.

“Yeah, baby?” he asked gently.

She looked at him seriously. “I don’ wan’ Will to die, Daddy,” she said.

Oliver’s breath caught in his throat.

“Oh, honey, William’s not going to die,” Felicity said, walking over to sit next to their daughter and run her fingers through her hair. “Why would you think that?”

“You said I couldn’ see Grandpa Robert ‘n Grandma Moira ‘cus they wen’ away before I was born and it’s too far to visit, even if they love me,” Mia whispered. “And you said that’s wha’ happens when someone dies. Will’s goin’ away and he’s gonna be too far to visit.” Her beautiful blue-green eyes filled with tears and she sniffled into her blanket. “I don’ want Will to be dead, Mommy.”

“Oh, come here, my little star.” Felicity lifted the three-year-old onto her lap, hugging her fiercely. “William’s not dying, I swear to you. He’s just going away to a very special school because he’s very clever, and needs other clever people to teach him.”

“Like you?” Mia asked.

“Yeah. Some of the people Will is going to learn things from are even more clever than me!”

“Not possible,” Mia shook her head.

“Well, they’re equally as clever as me,” Felicity corrected with a soft smile. “But Will isn’t going to die, Mia. He’s just going to be living away from us. Like how Uncle John and Auntie Lyla, your cousins and all your other aunts and uncles live far away from us. They still visit, don’t they? William will be back for your birthday, sweetie, and he’s going to FaceTime us every week to talk to us.”

Mia didn’t look like she believed her. His heart still shattered, Oliver pulled out his cell phone and dialed William’s number, turning it onto loudspeaker.

“ _Hello?_ ”

“Hi, Will, it’s your Dad,” Oliver greeted him with. “Mia’s missing you and she just wanted to know that you’re all right. Could you talk to her for a bit? I’m sorry if we interrupted anything.”

“ _Oh no, I wasn’t doing anything. Of course I can talk to her!”_

Mia’s expression lit up upon hearing her brother’s voice. She took hold of her father’s phone delicately, questioning hesitantly, “Will?”

“ _Hey, sis. I’m okay, I promise. You missing your plane cuddle buddy?”_

Mia wiped away her tears, still sniffing but much calmer than before. “Yeah.”

They left Mia with Oliver’s phone to have a conversation with William, not particularly caring about how much the bill might end up being or that she wasn’t having her regularly scheduled nap. Oliver and Felicity ended up sitting curled up together on their own couch at the other end of the plane, locked in each other’s embraces as they tried to comfort each other over the fact that their daughter was only three years old, but already exposed to concepts such as death.

In the weeks up to Mia’s fourth birthday, Oliver kept her occupied by picking up a couple more classes at Emerald Archer on weekdays and having her come along with him. He could tell that she was interested in all the fighting and training going on, and wondered whether or not his wife was going to be able to contact Nyssa in time for her to start her own training by October.

Being the miracle worker that Felicity was, Nyssa turned up the night of Mia’s birthday, after all their family and friends had left, William had departed for the airport and Mia was asleep in bed. She appeared at the cabin’s back door as Felicity was pouring herself and Oliver glasses of red wine, frightening the hell out of her and resulting in a good quarter of the bottle being spilled.

“You’re a difficult woman to track down,” Felicity said to her in greeting, still struggling to calm her racing heart.

“Thank you for coming,” Oliver said graciously.

“Your wife threatened to have all of my passports and visas canceled if I did not, so I did not have much of a choice,” Nyssa responded, aiming an amused smirk Felicity’s way. “You mentioned needing a favor. Considering everything that has happened and we have done for each other in the past, and acceptance from Thea into your strange family of a team, I would be happy to lend assistance in any way possible.”

“Good,” Felicity sighed. “Listen, this is a… delicate and personal matter. You were our first and only choice for this, and I think Oliver would agree with that assessment.” He nodded in confirmation. “We’re going to place a lot of trust in you, Nyssa. All I ask is that you don’t take it for granted and treat this arrangement with as much respect and care as you can. Because this concerns our family, and there’s nothing that matters more to us both than that.”

“You have my word,” Nyssa dipped her head. “What ‘delicate and personal’ business am I to hold your confidence in?”

Oliver and Felicity exchanged looks. Without another word, Felicity headed into Mia’s bedroom. A minute later, she carried the four-year-old out on her hip, Mia rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a massive yawn and looking adorable in her new unicorn onesie pajamas. It was hard for Oliver to hold back his laughter when Nyssa’s eyes widened in shock and she shuffled back, uncertain.

“Mia, this is your Auntie Nyssa,” Felicity introduced softly. “Do you remember Daddy and I telling you about her? All the stories?”

Mia nodded tiredly. “Her daddy was a bad man and she helped you and Daddy stop ‘im.” She yawned again.

“That’s right,” Oliver praised her. “And if it’s okay with you, we would like Auntie Nyssa to teach you how to protect yourself.”

“Like teachin’ the kids at Em-er-ald Archer,” she split the word up so she could pronounce it correctly, “To protec’ themselves?”

“Exactly, baby. But Daddy can’t train you himself because he loves you too much and he might teach you badly by accident. So Mommy and I thought that Auntie Nyssa would do a much better job. She’ll teach you how to kick and punch and hit like I teach the other children, but she’ll be a much, much better teacher than me. She’ll help you become bigger and stronger and even braver.”

Mia scrutinized Nyssa for a good moment, still yawning and rubbing her eyes but more alert than before. She was making a thorough assessment of her new aunt. After a while, she nodded. “Yeah, that’s okay.”

Oliver turned to the assassin, who was still staring at Mia, obviously surprised by her existence. “Nyssa?”

“I’d be honored to help train your daughter in the art of self-defense,” she finally agreed.

Mia held her arms out, pointing them towards Nyssa. She wanted to be held by her. Nyssa, to her credit, didn’t even hesitate to step forward and take the four-year-old from Felicity’s arms, carrying her cautiously as if she were a precious piece of china that might break at the wrong touch. Mia hugged her and when she pulled back to gaze at her seriously, she broke the tense moment by commenting on how Nyssa had pretty hair. Nyssa smiled at that and thanked her, before passing her back to Oliver so he could put his daughter back to bed.

“She’s a beautiful little girl,” Nyssa told them, once the archer returned. “A spitting image of her mother.”

“With all the spark and zeal of her father,” Felicity smiled.

Nyssa inclined her head. “I will protect her with my life.”

Mia’s training began the next day, although it was mostly cardio and fitness, and not fighting or self-defense. Felicity put Nyssa up in a large apartment in the town center of Bloomfield so she had somewhere to stay and live, and they gave her a salary - she might be family and doing this as a favor for them, but she needed money to live off of, to buy food and water and personal supplies. Oliver aided Nyssa with these parts, and together they took Mia out running, got her to do small obstacle courses, roll logs and drag tires. For Mia, however, this was less training and more having fun and playing games that she enjoyed with her father and auntie, as she was quite an active and sporty child anyway.

When the holiday break arrived and William came back home for Hanukkah and Christmas, he joined in on the fitness training and worked as an assistant at Emerald Archer with some of the kids’ beginner classes. Mia was too young still to participate in those lessons, as the youngest members the Martial Arts club took in were five-year-olds, but she watched them eagerly, knowing that she soon would be getting the same teaching from her own personal trainer.

Mia was sitting in on one of Oliver’s intermediate kid’s sessions on one of the days leading up to the New Year, lying on her front on top of the pile of mats, leaning on her elbows, when one of the boys from his class approached her. Oliver was busy sorting out two students who were struggling with their blocks, but he kept a close watch on them out of the corner of his eye.

“So your dad is like, the Green Arrow, right?” the boy, a nine-year-old called Aiden, asked her.

“ _Was_ Green Arrow,” Mia answered, blinking up at him, but she had a pencil in her mouth because she was scribbling ‘notes’ in a little notebook, so it came out adorably as ‘ _Gween Awwow_ ’. “Why?”

“He was a superhero?” Aiden continued to question.

Mia shrugged. “Yup. Daddy and Mommy and Uncle John helped save the city.” She knew this because Oliver and Felicity had been telling her about Team Arrow and their heroics since she’d been born. The chronicles of Green Arrow and Overwatch were her favorite bedtime stories.

“Why did he stop?”

“Be’cus now he’s my daddy.” Mia focused back on her notebook, apparently bored by this conversation.

“Yeah, but he didn’t just stop because he had you,” Aiden crossed his arms.

Mia sighed impatiently. “Why not?”

“Because that wouldn’t make him very much of a hero, if he decided to stop being a superhero because he had a baby. That’s being selfish.”

Oliver winced, expecting his daughter to get angry at the insult, but instead, Mia just sat up and stabbed her finger into Aiden’s chest. “My daddy’s not selfish. You’re jus’ stupid.”

He called across the room warningly, “Mia…” His daughter knew better than to call people names.

“My daddy will always be a hero,” Mia told Aiden, sliding off the mats and peering up at him with an angry expression. “Even if he’s not Green Arrow anymore. He was savin’ the city and the world and the universe!” She completely butchered the word, but that didn’t stop her. “Nobody is mean to my daddy and nobody calls him selfish.”

“You don’t even know what selfish means,” Aiden mocked her.

Mia rolled her eyes and to Oliver’s astonishment, stamped her foot down on top of Aiden’s. His jaw dropped. It didn’t seem to hurt the boy very much, but he hopped back and scowled at her. “Selfish means only carin’ about yourself,” the four-year-old told him, her tone just as mocking as Aiden’s had been. “And my daddy isn’ selfish, because if he was, he wouldn’ spend his time helpin’ to train naughty boys like you.” She turned away with a flick of her blonde hair and sauntered out of the training gym.

Oliver scolded her for her behavior that night… but also gave her an extra half-a-scoop of ice cream for dessert. It was impossible for him not to feel proud.

Just as Oliver and Felicity had predicted and scheduled, Mia started her actual, proper self-defense training in January 2024. They switched between using an empty room at Emerald Archer and training in their backyard. It was startling and kind of alarming how much she liked it. Nyssa started her off on some easy hits and blocks using equipment from the club, although the boxing gloves were a little big for the four-year-old.

It was clear as her training progressed throughout the year that Oliver would definitely not have been able to manage this by himself. He struggled to stand back and watch as Nyssa repeatedly pushed Mia onto the ground, over and over and over again, in an object lesson for her to trust her senses and anticipate her aunt’s attacks using her instincts.

Some days, Mia came home with bruises on her arms and legs and red-rimmed, tear-filled eyes after her tougher training sessions. She had to take steaming hot baths with Epsom salts to treat her aching, sore muscles, and she cried quietly in bed as Oliver gently massaged her calves, biceps, and triceps. She would still insist on attending her training tomorrow, despite her pain. Oliver yelled at Nyssa the next time he saw her after those days, telling her she was being too hard on her, that Mia was just a baby, but Nyssa stared back at him and responded in a stern voice every time that this was exactly why he’d asked her to train his daughter, and not just trained her himself. And Oliver hated that she was right.

By the spring, it would have been fair to say that Mia was about as well trained as some of his more advanced beginner class kids, who were ready to move up to intermediate lessons. Nyssa had taught her extremely well - not that they’d had any doubts that she wouldn't - and told Oliver that Mia might benefit from taking some of his Emerald Archer sessions on top of their individual training. Felicity had signed their daughter up for a pre-kindergarten morning playgroup for when she turned five years old in the fall, so needed to get some extra training in now so she was up to a good level before they needed to cut back on the number of sessions per week.

They started her off in a couple of Colton’s evening beginner kids classes, but it soon became clear to them all that Mia needed special attention, as she was definitely ahead of all the other children, but not enough to be bumped up to an intermediate class. Against all of Oliver’s gut instincts, he decided to take her in to his own weekend lessons during the summer. William was working as an assistant to him again to earn money during the break, and with his son’s help, Oliver was able to give Mia the attention she needed on top of teaching the other children.

Mia loved having different opponents to practice her moves on, but it often meant she was a little too enthusiastic. Nyssa had been able to withstand the force of her kicks and hits because she was an adult, and fully trained, but the other kids in the classes sometimes ended up crying or getting mad when they were partnered with Mia, just because she was so intense.

Sometimes Oliver wondered whether or not his and Felicity’s idea of having Mia trained had been a good one. Sure, she enjoyed the training, but it didn’t look like she really needed it. 

Was it unethical and bad parenting for him to have his four-year-old daughter learning mixed martial arts for her own protection, when it didn’t appear as if there was anything or anybody she truly needed to protect herself from?

He got his answer about two weeks into September.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for all your support, guys xx
> 
> looks like a lot of you will be jumping into his universe to live with me and the smoak-queen clan lol. the more the merrier, in my opinion!
> 
> (thank you to sam for her support, and calli for her advice on toddler/child behaviour!)

_Sometimes Oliver wondered whether or not his and Felicity’s idea of having Mia trained had been a good one. Sure, she enjoyed the training, but it didn’t look like she really needed it._

_Was it unethical and bad parenting for him to have his four-year-old daughter learning mixed martial arts for her own protection, when it didn’t appear as if there was anything or anybody she truly needed to protect herself from?_

_He got his answer about two weeks into September._

Mid-training session, Mia asked her father if she could go and get her water bottle from his office, as she’d accidentally left it there. William was back at university, so there was nobody to take her. Knowing that it was only a two-minute walk, his office was unlocked and she’d be walking past reception, with CCTV running all along the corridors, Oliver let her go alone. To the archer’s alarm, Mia arrived back five minutes later in Holly, the receptionist’s arms, her head buried in the woman’s shoulder.

“We’re going to need you in reception, please, Mr Queen,” she said tightly. “A man walked in off the street and attempted to grab your daughter and drag her outside. She managed to get him to let go of her, and Jennifer was standing with me at my desk when it happened, so she has him restrained at the moment. The police have been called.”

His heart jackhammering in his chest, he quickly agreed, peering into the opposite training room to ask Mark, who was running an adult session, to keep an eye on his kids for him. Once that was sorted, he grabbed Mia from Holly and hugged her to his chest, his eyes slamming shut as she wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and shuddered against him.

“I’m ‘kay, Daddy. Did what Auntie Nyssa taught me,” she mumbled into his ear. “I screamed and I fought him. He let me go.”

“I’m so, so proud of you, baby,” he whispered, a lump in his throat. “You’re sure you’re all right? I’ll call Mommy to come and pick you up.”

“I’m ‘kay. Just got a little shakes.” She lifted her hand to show him the slight tremor of her fingers. It caused his heart to clench agonizingly. His little girl had truly been terrified. There was no hint of fear in her eyes anymore, however, just a tired resignation. “Can you ask Mommy to bring Archer?”

“Of course, honey.” He kissed her on the forehead. “Daddy is going to make sure the bad man who touched you regrets what he did and is going to end up in jail.”

Mia’s expressed morphed into one of concerned, her brow marring. “You shouldn’ hurt him,” she said quietly. “S’not worth it, Daddy.”

“Why do you think I’m going to hurt him?”

“When you were Green Arrow, you used to beat up the bad men.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Oliver admitted. “But more often than not, I used to give them a very stern talking to first. And I would only beat them up if they didn’t listen, or tried to attack me, so I could make sure they didn’t hurt anybody else. But Jennifer has already made sure that the bad man today can’t do that. I’m just going to ask him about why he grabbed you and then talk to the police.”

“Okay,” Mia replied with a little sigh.

“Can you sit in my office with Holly until Mommy comes?”

She nodded, exhaling softly into his neck. She went with Holly rather reluctantly, cuddling the receptionist as she hurried through the lobby and took the four-year-old into Oliver’s office. Cracking his knuckles, Oliver took a moment to squash down the rising, seething ball of fury inside of him. If he exploded in front of the police or hurt the guy who had tried to take Mia, then there was a risk of him getting arrested as well, and he didn’t want that.

The situation was handled as efficiently as possible. Jennifer had already zip-cuffed the man to a chair by the time the police arrived, and they quickly worked things out. The man was the father of one of the six-year-olds in Oliver’s class, called Katie, but he was an alcoholic and Katie and her mother had a restraining order against him. He had somehow heard about Katie getting MMA training at Emerald Archer and decided, extremely drunk, to collect her. It was due to the fact that he was so intoxicated that he’d thought that Mia was Katie and grabbed her. Jennifer gave a statement about what she had witnessed and that seemed to be enough for the police, as they arrested the man and took him away.

Felicity must have come in the back door, because was already in Oliver’s office cradling Mia protectively when he returned. Archer was sitting beside them on a chair snuffling gently at Mia’s face, which was resting on her mother’s shoulder. “My beautiful, brave girl,” she murmured, rocking their daughter back and forth and stroking over her hair soothingly. “I love you so much. I’m so sorry that man got to touch you, but I’m so very proud of you for fighting him off. My wonderful little star, the brightest and strongest in the black sky.”

“I did good?” Mia asked, her voice mumbled because her face was buried in Felicity’s cardigan. “Will Auntie Nyssa be proud of me?”

“She’s going to be incredibly proud, sweetheart. Maybe even prouder than Daddy and I.”

“And we are very, very proud,” Oliver said, stepping in and closing the door behind him. He began rubbing his hand up and down Mia’s back, helping her relax further. Archer gave a faint growl, trying to protect his charge, but he huffed in a satisfied manner when Oliver rubbed over his ears. “More proud than you could possibly know, honey. You protected yourself, just like Mommy and I hoped you would learn to. And now that man is not going to be able to hurt or scare anybody for a long, long time. Did you know that was Katie’s daddy? He hasn’t been very nice to her or her mommy. But now he can’t hurt them ever again.”

Mia nodded, kneading the fabric of Felicity’s cardigan in her hands. Her face was still flushed from her crying earlier, but her tears had dried up. “Can I have hot cocoa later please?” she asked hopefully.

Oliver laughed. His daughter was remarkably resilient. “You can have all the hot cocoa you want tonight, baby. With as many marshmallows and as much whipped cream as you want.”

“Thank you, Daddy. Can we go home?”

“Daddy needs to finish teaching the other children, but I’m sure Mommy and Archer will take you home.”

“Yep. Come on, little star.” Felicity slowly got to her feet, keeping Mia cradled to her chest. “We’ll stop by Mrs Carver’s and get you one of your special red velvet cupcakes, how does that sound?”

“Yay!” Mia cheered, raising her hands triumphantly.

Oliver checked the CCTV footage of what had happened, partly because he needed to hand it over to the Bloomfield police as evidence, and partly because he wanted to know exactly what Mia had done to fight the man off.

Mia had been skipping back through reception with her water bottle, only pausing to fill it up some more using the water fountain in the corner, when the man had run in off the street and grabbed her by the arm. He’d attempted to yank her out to the door, rambling in a slurred voice about Katie and something or another. Mia had screamed directly in his face and then, using her free hand, punched him in the crotch. The man had let go of her promptly, bending over, and then Mia had kicked him in the face. She’d then sprinted into Holly’ arms, sobbing, as Jennifer vaulted over the front desk to pin down the man who’d been rolling in pain at the floor at that point.

His four-year-old daughter was a certified badass.

When he arrived home that evening, Felicity, Nyssa, and Mia were cuddled up on the couch under blankets together watching Frozen 3, Archer sprawled out over them with his head on Mia’s lap. Mia was sandwiched between the two women, almost as if they were shielding her from the outside world. All three of their heads snapped around as Oliver entered through the front door. 

“Daddy!” Mia bolted towards him. She crashed into Oliver’s legs with such momentum that the archer was forced back a couple of steps, and sighed in relief when Oliver swept her up into his arms and dropped a tiny kiss on her nose. “Look what Auntie Nyssa got me!” She leaned back and spread her arms wide.

She was sporting a brand new dark green leather jacket. Oliver’s throat closed up. To see his daughter wearing his signature color was too amazing to put into words.

“She says I’m a hero now. Like you,” Mia said triumphantly.

“Does she? Well, Auntie Nyssa is never wrong. I guess you must be a hero then, my beautiful. Brave. Little. Star.” He punctuated each word with a kiss to her cheeks, causing Mia to giggle.

“Gonna go get another blanket for you so you can watch the movie with us too!” Mia squirmed out of his grasp and scampered away into her bedroom.

After watching her go, Oliver turned to Felicity and Nyssa, who were watching him with matching innocent expressions.

“She deserved a reward,” Nyssa said. “She utilized the training I have given her well.” When Oliver’s expression didn’t change, she smirked and continued, “It was going to be one of her birthday gifts anyway, Oliver. I simply decided it would be apt to bestow the jacket on her now. She realizes the importance of her training after today, and is motivated to improve further.”

“Plus, she looks absolutely adorable,” Felicity added with a grin.

“Is she okay though?”

“At this age, she’ll bounce back from almost anything, Oliver,” his wife reassured him. “And she seems fine. We’ll keep an eye on her to make sure she’s not having nightmares or panic attacks over the next week, but I’m confident that she’s going to be all right.”

Mia ran back in, half tripping over the fuschia pink blanket she was carrying in her arms. “Got you a blanket, Daddy!”

“Thank you, sweetie.”

“It’s pink. Not as cool as green, but still one of the bestest colors.”

“One of the best colors,” Felicity corrected gently.

“No, one of the _bestest_ colors,” Mia insisted. “‘Cus it’s better than best.”

Two weeks before her birthday, Mia started her pre-kindergarten morning playgroup, but within a couple of days, the supervisors were coming back and telling Oliver and Felicity that their daughter was advanced mentally far beyond the other children, and needed to be placed in kindergarten already so she could have her brain properly stimulated. It made sense - they’d always known that Mia was intelligent for her age, which was why when Felicity wasn’t working on Smoak Tech business, she’d started teaching Mia how to read, do her times tables and write.

Although normally Mia wouldn’t be allowed to join the Bloomfield kindergarten until she was six years old, they’d spoken to the head of the school and they were willing to accept Mia. She started at the kindergarten the day after she was released from the playgroup, and fortunately, really enjoyed it. None of the other kids made fun of her or picked on her because she was a year younger than them, and Mia was able to make friends roughly her own age.

Mia’s fifth birthday was a quiet, family affair. None of their friends or teammates from Star City were able to make it up to Bloomfield because of an ongoing case they were involved in. William, Oliver, Felicity, Nyssa, and Mia went out for a nice meal together in town and then, per Mia’s request, went to Emerald Archer Martial Arts. A few days before, the club had closed down for the weekend; they’d had one of the gym’s retrofitted with new wall mounted boxing bags and a cage ring with spring mats, and installed a foam pit in another room for controlled fall and balance training. Mia had made Oliver swear that she could be the first person to try out the foam pit.

Immediately upon seeing the pit, Mia kicked off her shoes, giggling excitedly. Sprinting towards it, she kicked off the ground and cannon-balled into the foam cubes, squealing when she sank beneath them.

“Come on, Daddy!” she called. “It’s so soft!”

“Move out of the way, pipsqueak, your big brother’s coming in!” William shouted, running and diving in. He landed just beside Mia and quickly grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up high above him. “This is even better than a swimming pool!” He chucked her across to the other side of the pit, where Mia scrambled onto her front, laughing.

Felicity picked up their daughter’s shoes, placing them into one of the cubby holes of the new cabinet. She had Archer on his leash, because the dog was trying to chase after his charge to jump into the pit alongside her, but they didn’t want his claws tearing up the foam. “Be careful, you two!”

“We are, Mom,” William rolled his eyes.

Oliver saw Felicity freeze out of the corner of his eye, her eyes widening. William had never called her Mom before. She hastily shook herself out of it, handing Archer’s leash over to Nyssa so she could sit at the edge of the pit to keep an eye on their kids. “Don’t wear yourselves out before you get to try out the punch bags and cage ring.”

“Oh!” Mia rolled over the foam cubes until she got to the edge of the pit, climbing out. “I wanna try the cage! Beginners class don’ get to so this is my only chance.”

Oliver caught her around the waist as she hurried to run to the other room, stopping her in her tracks and swinging her up onto his hip. “Slow down there, hotshot,” he teased. “You’ll get plenty of changes to try the cage, I promise. Because you -” he tapped her lightly on the nose, “- Have graduated. Mommy and I have sighed you up for Jennifer’s Friday evening intermediate classes.”

“But I’m not old enough!” Mia gasped. “You have to be eight or older for Jen’s classes! And I’m only five!”

“Jennifer says that you’re well-trained enough,” Oliver told her. “And Nyssa is going to start helping out here, on top of training you individually, so she can keep an eye on you.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” Mia threw her arms around her father’s neck in a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you too, baby.”

With William at university and Mia at kindergarten, Oliver and Felicity finally found they had some alone time at home. It had been years since they’d been able to lie in bed doing nothing (and _other things_ ) during the day, and they were very thoroughly enjoying it. So much so they decided on foregoing protection. They had spoken at length about potentially having another baby after Mia, and although they agreed not to actively try - Felicity didn’t see waiting for her fertile days as a very _sexy_ thing - Felicity halted her birth control and they stopped using condoms, deciding to just let nature take its course and fate rule their future for once. Mia had been a complete accident back when Felicity had got pregnant in 2019, and she’d become one of the most wonderful, magnificent parts of their lives. If they ended up having another baby, they would be just as overjoyed.

Family seemed to be the biggest topic talked about in the Smoak-Queen residence during the fall. Mia came home from kindergarten one day and without even really talking to her parents, jumped up onto a chair at the dining table and began to work on some sort of homework she’d been given. They were content on letting her do her own thing until dinner, and settled down on the other side of the table, searching for flights to Aruba on Felicity’s laptop. They were hoping to go away for a week of relaxation mid-January, as Nyssa had offered to look after Mia and William.

“Why do I have two names?”

Oliver and Felicity both looked up, startled by the sudden question. Mia was still concentrating on her work, but she was still directly the question to her parents, not just asking herself.

“Do you want to take this one, or should I?” Oliver whispered to his wife.

“I can.” Felicity pushed the laptop his way, so he could continue looking at the flights. “Are you asking why your name is Mia Smoak-Queen when some of your friends only have one last name, like Uncle John’s last name is Diggle?”

Mia nodded, looking puzzled. “William has three,” she added. “He’s Clayton Smoak-Queen.”

“Well, you have two last names because my last name is Smoak, and Daddy’s last name is Queen,” Felicity said. “And when you were born, Daddy and I wanted you to have both of our names.”

“But why don’t you have Daddy’s last name?” Mia asked. “Nelly said that her mommy and daddy have the same last name. Did you want to stay Smoak because of Smoak Tech?”

“That was part of it, yes. And also because I liked my last name, and there’s nothing that says that when a woman marries a man, she has to take his last name. I wanted to stay Felicity Smoak and your daddy was happy with that.”

“Why couldn’ Daddy take your last name?”

“Because Mommy wouldn’t let me,” Oliver told her solemnly.

Felicity whacked him in the arm. “Hey! Because when your daddy and I got married, Daddy was a very important person in Star City, called the mayor, and everybody knew him as Oliver Queen,” she explained. “He didn’t want to confuse people.”

“And I would have been way too awesome with the last name Smoak, and I didn’t want to blow everybody in Star City away with my coolness,” Oliver winked, which made Mia cover her mouth and giggle.

“But you are both my baby and Daddy’s baby,” Felicity continued to explain. “And we wanted your surname to reflect that. You’re a part of me and a part of Daddy. So you have both of our last names.”

Mia nodded. After a moment, she questioned, “Does William have another mommy or daddy and that’s why he’s called Clayton as well?”

“Yes, he does,” Felicity smiled. “He has another mommy. But his mommy died when he was twelve years old. He wanted to keep his mommy’s last name to remember her by.”

“That’s sweet,” Mia chewed on the end of her pencil. Oliver reached out to pull it out of her mouth.

“Yes, it is,” he said. “Why do you want to know about your surnames, sweetie?”

“I’m doing a poster on my family for Mrs Thompson.” She showed him the sheet of paper she was drawing the members of their family on, including all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins in Star City. “I have to label everybody.”

When Oliver caught sight of the drawing of himself, standing between a tall blonde stick figure that had to be Felicity, and a shorter blonde stick figure that must have been Mia, his lips ticked up into a wide grin. “Did you draw Daddy in the Green Arrow suit?”

“Yeah. Is that okay?”

He kissed her on the crown of her head. She’d only ever seen him in the Green Arrow suit in person once before, and that was Halloween two years ago; there were plenty of photos around the house, though. “That’s great.” He examined the rest of the poster, smiling at each of the stick figures. Oliver paused, however, cocked his head sideways and frowned when he saw somebody he didn’t recognize. “Who’s this person next to William?” he questioned.

“That’s Jake,” Mia murmured absentmindedly, scribbling in the name when she realized she’d accidentally missed it out.

Oliver’s gaze lifted to meet Felicity’s. She shrugged, equally clueless. “And who’s Jake?” he asked. “Why does he get to be on the family poster?”

Mia stopped, thinking on this for a second. “I’m not allowed to tell you,” she finally said.

“Why not?”

“Will said I couldn’. He said he wants to tell you himself.”

Realization slammed into Oliver like a freight train. Felicity seemed to be going through the same thing, raising a hand to cover her mouth as her surprised eyes dropped down to the tabletop.

So that was two of William’s secrets cracked.

The first, that his son wasn’t straight. The second, that he had a boyfriend that Oliver and Felicity didn’t know about.

Did William think that his parents wouldn’t accept him, and that was why he hadn’t told them? How come Mia had found out before them? If he was deliberately keeping this a secret from them, was he ever planning on telling them? Mia had said that William wanted to tell them himself - but when? If Mia was drawing Jake, William’s boyfriend, onto their family poster, that meant that they had to be pretty serious. And yet, Oliver and Felicity didn’t know anything about him. Oliver wondered how long they’d been dating. During the summer, William had often stayed in his bedroom for hours, FaceTiming somebody who made him laugh and his mood soar. They’d just assumed it was his friends from university at the time; had it actually been his boyfriend?

“He’ll probably tell us when he comes home for the holidays,” Felicity murmured, squeezing Oliver’s hand.

“Will he?” Oliver croaked.

Felicity looked unsure. “I hope so. Do you think that he thinks we won’t accept him?”

“We’ve always told him that we don’t care who he loves, as long as they make him happy.”

“Then maybe he’s just waiting for the right time?”

“Yeah.” Oliver exhaled slowly. “Yeah, maybe.”

As October fall merged into November winter, the weather getting colder and skies getting darker, the Smoak-Queen family kept busy. Mia was flying when it came to both her training and kindergarten; Nyssa and Jennifer reckoned that she could move up into an Emerald Archer expert kids class by February if her progress continued as rapidly as it had been. There was nobody in her current intermediate class that wanted to take her on in the cage, and if they did, within five minutes, Mia was flipping them, kicking them and had them in a chokehold.

She gave a beaming grin every time she won a fight, unaware of how the older children and pre-teens looked at her with jealousy and contempt. It worried Oliver. She was a five-year-old who could already take down a twelve-year-old twice her size if she wanted to, and she always did it with such glee. She certainly had her father’s genes when it came to her fighting ability. But while before, the other kids had thought it was cool that her father was the Green Arrow and she was getting special training, now they viewed it as an unfair advantage, and didn’t want to be friends with her anymore.

Mia didn’t seem to mind that none of the children at Emerald Archer wanted to hang out with her anymore - she had her friends at kindergarten. But the kindergarten teachers had informed Oliver and Felicity that they thought that their daughter was ready to move up into primary school by next September, and they’d picked a school in Hatchinfield rather than Bloomfield, which meant that she’d be losing the few friends she’d made. She had Archer, who remained her ever-loyal canine best friend, but it was clear to them that they were going to struggle to keep her socialized with other children her age if she continued to advance through the school system and her martial arts classes.

In the first week of December, Felicity had to travel and stay in Star City for a week due to a series of important Smoak Tech board meetings, and the fact she was giving two speeches at Star City University: one at a graduation ceremony about women in STEM, and the other a TED talk about developments in DNA tracking technology to aid in criminal investigations. Nyssa went with her as her ‘security detail’, leaving Oliver home alone with Mia. She loved having daddy-daughter time with him, mostly because whenever Oliver picked her up from kindergarten, he would take her and Archer out to the park and play a game where he would time how long it took for her to reach the top of the climbing frame.

Halfway through their week alone, however, Mia interrupted their reading time by asking what the weird sticks hidden in Mommy’s make-up drawer were. She’d been looking for band-aids in their bathroom because she’d nicked herself running too fast past the kitchen table and when looking through Felicity’s vanity, found a collection of sticks that she’d never seen before. Oliver’s heart rate spiked, because he had a suspicion that he knew what the sticks were, but he told his daughter that her mommy had a lot of different make-up and maybe it was just a new one she hadn’t seen before.

After Mia fell asleep that night, Oliver went to investigate for himself, his hands trembling and breathing shallow. He found the sticks that Mia had been talking about pushed to the back of his wife’s make-up drawer, half-wrapped in a reusable washcloth.

Pregnancy tests.

Four positive pregnancy tests.

Closing the drawer up, he grabbed a notebook and a calculator and counted the number of days since Felicity’s last period. She was a week and a half late.

They were having another baby.

“So it turns out that Mia’s not very good at keeping secrets,” Oliver said casually to Felicity, once she’d arrived back home and was sitting at the kitchen island with hot cocoa, watching him bake her favorite chocolate cinnamon shortbread cookies. There had been four pints of mint chip ice cream waiting for her in the freezer as well. She’d just thought Oliver had missed her, and was spoiling her.

“Well, yes,” Felicity tilted her head. “But we already knew that. She did accidentally tell us that her big brother has a boyfriend.”

“And she accidentally told me that she’s going to have a little sibling.”

Felicity went still, staring at him.

“Four pregnancy tests?” Oliver quirked an amused eyebrow at her. “Isn’t that a bit excessive?”

“There were seven, actually, but three of them smelt awful after so I had to throw them away.” She slid off her chair and sidled up to him, wrapping her arms around his hips and resting her chin on his chest, peering up at him with those stunning blue eyes. “I wanted it to be a surprise,” she pouted. “I had a reveal planned out and everything.”

“Yeah?”

“I bought Mia a t-shirt that said ‘I guess now I’m the middle child’.”

“Wow.”

“It would have been funny.”

He grinned down at her, and tipped her chin up with a finger so he could kiss her gently. “We’re pregnant.”

“Heck yeah we are,” she laughed.

“I’m so happy.”

“I thought you might be. I’ve booked a doctor’s appointment for Thursday for blood tests and then we can schedule our first ultrasound. Want to come with?”

He nodded eagerly. “Are we going to tell William and Mia?” he asked.

“I was thinking we should wait until I’m in the second trimester. Then we’ll have an ultrasound picture to show them. I’m sure they’ll both be thrilled though. William’s loved being a big brother, and Mia has always said she wants a baby brother or sister.”

Oliver reckoned that both William and Mia would work out that Felicity was pregnant before the second-trimester stage, if she started having pregnancy side-effects like morning sickness, fatigue and cravings as early with this baby as she did when she’d been pregnant with Mia. William only came home for a week during the holiday break, however, claiming that he needed to get back to Massachusetts to work on his dissertation and application for a spring science internship at Wayne Industries. Oliver and Felicity knew that this was a cover story; his internship application had already been sent off, and he wasn’t due to start crafting his dissertation until March.

William made no mention of his boyfriend or his sexuality and seemed all too eager to get back to MIT, which caused Oliver’s heart to sink. Did their son seriously not want them to know? Was he so desperate to keep it a secret from them that he didn’t want to spend time with them as a family anymore?

Mia was happy to provide answers. “Jake’s Mommy and Daddy aren’t very nice to him because he likes boys,” she told them simply. “So he’s all alone at Christmas and he’s always sad. Will loves him and wants him to be happy, so he’s going back to be with him. He told me that he loves all of us too, but we all have each other for the holidays, and Jake doesn’t have anybody, so Jake needs him more.”

That was incredibly sweet, but just made Oliver and Felicity wonder why William hadn’t just told them about Jake and asked if he could join them for the holidays. Oliver thought that they should push the issue, call William and tell him to come home to celebrate the New Year - and to bring Jake with him, but Felicity convinced him to let it be. If William still wasn’t telling them about Jake, then there was a reason for it, and they shouldn’t force him.

Felicity’s morning sickness was much more mild with this pregnancy than with Mia’s, much to both of their relief, but she was craving salty foods instead of sweet ones. All of the reading Oliver did online about salty vs sweet cravings pointed him to old wives’ tales, leading him to believe that they were having a baby boy this time. The trip to Aruba had been canceled until further notice, and in January 2025, during the week that Oliver and Felicity were meant to be lounging on breathtaking beaches, sipping from coconuts and snorkeling along the tropical shoreline, they had their first ultrasound.

Mia was training with Nyssa when they got back from the doctor’s, and she ducked underneath her mentor’s flying arm to sprint up to her parents, jumping up and down excitedly in front of them. Archer followed after her, barking. “I wanna see him! Let me see the picture of my baby brother!” she demanded, yanking at Oliver’s jacket.

Oliver and Felicity exchanged shocked looks.

“How did you know Mommy’s pregnant, sweetheart?” Oliver asked, picking her up and carrying her back into the yard, placing her atop her climbing frame.

Mia swung down from the frame so she could place her hands on Felicity’s very barely showing stomach, resting her ear on top of the belly bump. Archer snuffled her face, causing her to snicker and push him away. “I’m clever,” she said vaguely. “Did you see him? Can you show me? I wanna see him.”

“Maybe you should let your mother rest first, _'iishraq_ ,” Nyssa suggested from the side with a gentle smile. “She has had a long day and must be quite tired. You and I have a training session to finish.”

“But Auntie Nyssa -!”

“You ran off before I could dismiss you, as well. Ten sit-ups and ten press-ups, please,” she ordered.

Mia grumbled, but agreed. She pressed a messy kiss to Felicity’s lips, Oliver’s and then to Felicity’s stomach before heading back to their training area. Archer licked at all of their hands before trotting after her obediently.

“I apologize,” Nyssa sighed. “I did try to tell her to wait until the two of you told her. It is all she’s been talking about recently.”

“How long has she known for?” Felicity asked, bewildered.

“Two weeks now. She told me she overheard you and Oliver discussing baby names.”

The two of them groaned. They’d tried to be so careful to keep their baby conversations over wraps, but their daughter had very keen ears. Closed doors weren’t enough to keep her from eavesdropping, it turned out.

“She has her own name suggestions, I should warn you,” Nyssa continued over her shoulder as she turned away to follow Mia. “And she is very persistent.”

They eventually sat down with Mia after dinner in the living room to show her the ultrasound photos. Felicity laid on the couch with her head in Oliver’s lap and the five-year-old kneeling on the floor beside her, so Mia could press her hands up against the small swell of her mother’s belly. Archer was sleeping in his dog bed across the room by the fireplace. Mia’s eyes were full of wonder and exhilaration; she was already ecstatic to be a big sister. She listened intently as Oliver told her that her baby sibling was going to be born in July, he/she was currently about the size of a passionfruit in her mommy’s tummy, but they didn’t know whether the baby was going to be a boy or a girl yet.

“When will we know when the baby is a girl or a boy?”

“Your mommy and I actually want it to be a surprise,” Oliver admitted. “Is that okay?”

“You want me to wait until July!? But that’s - that’s _forever_ away!”

“Maybe when we go to the second ultrasound, the doctor can tell you,” Felicity allowed. “But only if you keep it a secret from Daddy and me.”

“I will!” Mia jumped up and down. “I will, I promise!”

Felicity smiled at her, tucking a lock of her daughter’s hair behind her ear. “What do you think the baby is?”

Mia frowned deeply and rested her ear against her mother’s belly bump for a good, long minute, before saying decisively, “It’s a boy,” as if there was no argument to be had over this.

“See! I told you,” Oliver gestured at their daughter. “Mia’s with me on this.”

“Nuh uh! Mother’s intuition! It’s a girl!” Felicity insisted.

“Mother’s intuition doesn’t work with you, Felicity. You thought Mia was a boy up until the second ultrasound where they told us she was a girl.”

Felicity blushed, embarrassed. “Stop personally attacking your pregnant wife!” she spluttered.

Mia found this revelation to be particularly hilarious, falling onto her back and giggling insanely. It was pretty adorable. “You thought I was a boy!” she gasped through her laughter.

“Don’t you start, little star,” Felicity said warningly, although she was grinning.

“If you thought I was a boy, did you come up with a name for me?” Mia asked, once she’d got herself back together.

“We did,” Oliver confirmed. “It’s what we’d like to call this new baby if they’re a boy. Lucas Robert Smoak-Queen.”

“I like that.” Mia leaned on her elbows on the couch cushions. “But why aren’t you gonna call the baby Tommy?”

Oliver’s throat closed up and he swallowed with difficulty, his chest suddenly tight.

“Why’d you ask that, sweetheart?” Felicity asked.

“Daddy misses Uncle Tommy a lot,” Mia shrugged. “Daddy said that he loved Uncle Tommy before he learned to love anybody else, because he was his best friend and became family. I know he died a long time before I was born and helped Daddy become a hero… I thought you might wanna name the baby after him.”

Felicity’s eyes flashed over to Oliver. He was too overcome with emotion to formulate a proper response. “That’s true, Mia,” she told their daughter softly. “Tommy did mean a lot to your dad, and he meant a lot to me too. Daddy wouldn’t be here without him. But your dad and I talked about it and decided not to name this baby Tommy if it’s a boy.”

“Why not?”

Clearing his throat, Oliver responded hoarsely, “It’s complicated, Mia.”

“Oh. Okay. What about a girl?”

Oliver and Felicity glanced at each other. “We don’t know, actually,” Felicity told her. “We like a couple of names, but we haven’t chosen yet.”

“Can I tell you what names for the baby that I like?”

“Sure, baby.”

Mia jumped up and rushed out of the living room into her bedroom, hurrying back only a few seconds later with her notebook clutched in her hands. She hopped up onto the couch and crawled underneath Felicity’s legs so she could sit down, opening the notebook up and flipping through the pages.

“Boy or girl?” she asked them.

“We have a name for a boy, so let’s go with girl.”

“Okay.” She placed her finger on the page and began reading down her list. “Megan. Emma. Charlotte. Amelia. Lucy. Addie. Rose. Nicole -”

“How many girls’ names have you picked out?” Oliver interrupted.

“Twenty four,” Mia responded, shooting him a glare for cutting her off.

He stared at her, taken back. “How many boys’ names?”

“Less. Eighteen. But you and Mommy have decided on a boy name.” She turned the page back to look at that list. “I had Lucas on my list too.”

“I like Addie,” Felicity mused. “It could be short for Adeline.”

“And I like Megan,” Oliver told her.

“That’s Mommy’s middle name,” Mia replied. “It could be the baby’s middle name too.”

“Did we just decide on a girl’s name in less than thirty seconds?” Felicity’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Adaline Megan Smoak-Queen?”

“I think we did,” Oliver chuckled, leaning down to kiss her. “Lucas Robert Smoak-Queen for a boy. Adeline Megan Smoak-Queen for a girl.”

“I want to name the next baby boy though,” the five-year-old said.

“‘Next baby boy’?” Felicity startled.

“I don’t know if there’s going to be a ‘next baby boy’, sweetie,” Oliver said gently.

Mia stared at them for a moment. Slipping out from underneath her mother’s legs, she turned to them and said shortly and simply, “There better be,” in such a passive-aggressive tone that it shook the both of them. Then she gave them a happy smile and returned to her room to put her notebook away.

“Those are all your genetics,” Felicity whispered to Oliver.

“Are you kidding? No. That was _all_ you.”

Once Mia had gone to bed that night, they FaceTimed William and told him the news, showing him the ultrasound photo. He was overjoyed for them, and even happier than he would be at home in the summer for his little sibling’s birth. As they were discussing the baby named they had picked out with him, a crash sounded from William’s side of the camera. Panic flashed through his eyes when Felicity asked what it was, but he hastily answered that it was Pixel messing around in the kitchen. He continued to ramble on about the cat for the next five minutes, but Oliver could see that his eyes were following somebody that they couldn’t see because of the angle of his cell phone camera.

“Do you think his boyfriend is living with him?” Oliver asked Felicity quietly, as they laid in bed together that night, wrapped in each other's arms.

“Maybe,” she replied, her voice equally hushed.

He pulled one of his hands back and wormed in between their bodies to splay his fingers out over his wife’s bare stomach, gently caressing the swell of her belly where their baby was growing, sheltered and protected. “Do you think he’s happy?”

“Yeah, I think he is.”

“I hate feeling so disconnected from him.”

“William will come to us when he feels as if he’s ready to. We just have to be patient. And because we love him, we’ll wait as long as we have to until he decides it’s time to tell us.”

February resulted in being an intense month for the Smoak-Queen family. Occupied with both the running of Smoak Tech and her pregnancy, Felicity bustled about working, attending doctor’s appointments and prenatal yoga sessions, that were meant to help with her aching back. She got annoyed when Oliver flitted around her at home because he was getting in her way; he even admitted to himself that if he’d been in her shoes, he would find himself irritating.

Since Mia was at kindergarten on weekdays now, he could afford to pick up extra hours at Emerald Archer, which he especially needed to do as Jennifer was heading to Australia for two months for an MMA championship. This did mean, however, that he ended up teaching Mia again at the weekends. She’d started attending a mixture of both intermediate and expert classes (mostly still intermediate though) and taking on tougher opponents, meaning that Oliver had to be tougher on her. He critiqued her skills a lot more, which she didn’t appear to mind, but considering her increased effort in the sessions, her father was definitely motivating her to improve.

To his shock, in March, the responsibility of Mia’s training was lumped entirely into Oliver’s own hands, as Nyssa announced she was leaving. Thea and Roy had got in contact with her about a potential Lazarus Pit in the mountains of northern Japan that they needed help searching for and required somebody from the Al Ghul lineage to connect them with the locals in the area who protected it. Nyssa didn’t want to leave - she wanted to stay and complete Mia’s training, and although she loathed to admit it, she’d become very fond of the little girl - but she needed to, as she’d pledged the rest of her life to shutting down the League of Assassins. She promised to be back by at the latest, Christmas. But that meant she’d be away for nine months.

“I don’t want you to go,” Mia mumbled into Nyssa’s shoulder, as she hugged her aunt tightly on the morning of her departure. They were dropping her off at a private airport, as Felicity was lending her the Smoak Tech jet to get her to Tokyo.

“I know, _'iishraq_ ,” Nyssa soothed her. “But it will not be forever.”

“I’m gonna miss you.”

Nyssa met Oliver and Felicity’s eyes over the top of Mia’s head, and her expression was sad. “I will miss you as well.” Setting the little girl down in front of her, she informed Mia in a lighter tone, “I have a gift for you. Something that will link us both while I am away.” She withdrew the hair clip keeping her hair pinned back; it was half of one of her arrows, with the black arrowhead blunted and the shaft sheared off after a couple of inches. Reaching out, she swept Mia’s wavy blonde hair up into a bun and slid the arrow hairpin into place. “Now you will have a piece of me with you, always.” Taking a shaky breath, she placed her hand on Mia’s shoulder and continued sternly, “Your father is going to take charge of your training now, so behave and train as hard for him as you did for me. When I get back, I would like to see improvement in your elbow and knee strike techniques.”

Mia nodded and hugged her legs, tears in her eyes, but she refused to cry. Oliver picked her up and cradled her to his chest as Felicity stepped forward to speak to Nyssa hushedly for a minute, handing over a Smoak Tech prototype smartphone so they could stay in touch. After they embraced and Felicity backed off, Oliver and Nyssa gave each other short, respectful nods. Words didn’t need to be said; the gratitude and appreciation exchanged between them in their expressions was enough.

Nyssa had given Oliver a schedule for their training sessions so that Mia’s routine wasn’t interrupted, and their first lesson together was two days after the assassin leaving, in the evening after Mia arrived back from kindergarten.

Mia didn’t appear to be very motivated, dragging on her work-out clothes and storming into the yard while yanking her boxing gloves on. She was throwing a tantrum. Normally, Oliver would stop everything they were doing and try and sort out the issue as soon as Mia began showing signs of a hissy fit, because he didn’t like her being upset or angry. In this instance, however, he knew that she was just acting out because she missed Nyssa and wanted her aunt training her, not her father.

Holding up boxing pads for Mia to punch, Oliver tried to encourage her despite her foul mood. “Come on. Yep. Come on, Mia. Harder. Rotate your hips. Good, now remember to straighten your arm. Great. Good girl. Now kick. High. Get your knees up. Good. Keep it going, keep it going. More force, sweetheart. You’ve got this.”

After about five minutes of this, Mia threw her gloves on the ground, yelling in frustration. “No! Don’t wanna train today!” She slammed her bare fist into one of the pads that Oliver was holding up with so much power that it went flying off his hand, and then stomped away furiously.

Felicity, who had been sitting on the porch on their swing seat with Archer on her lap, jumped at their daughter’s outburst. “Mia!” she snapped.

“Go away!” the five-year-old shouted.

She was trying to climb over the fence separating their backyard from the redwood forest, her shoes slipping against the wooden panels. She was trembling from her anger. Oliver scooped Mia off the fence, carrying her back towards the house and wincing as she thrashed in his arms, screaming about how she didn’t want to train and didn’t want to go in time-out. Mia knew that she was going to be punished for her temper tantrum, but she continued to punch her tiny fists into Oliver’s back, yelling hysterically. Felicity followed behind closely, staying a foot back so she wouldn’t be hit by Mia’s flying hands.

Once they were inside the house, Mia suddenly quietened. She stopped hitting her father and hung limply in his arms. An enraged frown marred her face but she pressed her lips shut tightly as Oliver swung her down from his shoulder, setting her down on her feet in the corner of the living room.

“Stand here facing the wall,” he ordered sternly. “You’re in time-out.”

“Why?” she scowled up at him.

Felicity crossed her arms, staring down at her with a strict expression. “We do not scream and we do not run away if we aren’t getting our own way, and we especially don’t hit Daddy. That was very mean and nasty of you. Daddy was helping you train but you decided to shout at him and try and hurt him instead of using your words when you got mad. You will stay here in this corner silently until Daddy and I decide you’ve calmed down and learned your lesson. Then, we are going to talk about why you got angry, and no, that is not an offer or request, that is an order. Do you understand?”

“Whatever,” Mia sulked, turning away from them and flicking her hair in their faces.

“Don’t be a brat,” Oliver warned her. “Answer Mommy, please. Do you understand?”

Mia huffed unhappily. “Yessss.”

“No tablet time tonight or tomorrow, or Sunday,” Felicity added. “And you are going to write a letter of apology to Daddy for hitting him.”

Mia muttered something under her breath.

“What did you just say?” Oliver asked sternly.

“I said I wish Auntie Nyssa was here!” she yelled, stomping her foot on the ground.

Oliver and Felicity exchanged glances. So that was what this was all about? Mia was upset that Nyssa had left. It wasn’t a stretch to say that she was probably feeling abandoned. She’d spent a large portion of her life training with her aunt and seeing her almost every day - it had to be a massive shock to the system for her to suddenly lose that.

They migrated from the living room to the kitchen, mostly because they could keep an eye on their daughter. Felicity hopped up onto a stool in front of the island, cradling her swollen belly and rubbing the bump gently, staying silent as Oliver began to bake her some pretzels, to feed her salt cravings. As he began shaping the pre-prooved dough, Oliver pulled out his phone and, meeting his wife’s gaze, set a timer for fifteen minutes. Felicity gave him a short nod - fifteen minutes was an appropriate time for Mia to stand in a time-out, considering her age and maturity.

Five minutes into her punishment, Mia started crying softly. They knew that it wasn’t to attract attention due to how quiet it was, but it was clear her anger had passed and now she was just miserable. Oliver’s heart throbbed - he hated hearing his baby girl so upset - but he continued shaping pretzels and dipping them into a baking soda solution until he’d filled the tray. Felicity flicked through a Smoak Tech-ARGUS collaboration proposal Alena had sent her, sipping at a glass of lemonade and checking the timer every couple of minutes.

Oliver stopped the timer seconds before it was about to sound, and after sliding the baking tray into the preheated oven, dusted off his hands and headed over to Mia. She was leaning her forehead against the wall, sniffling. Waves of her blonde curls hung over her face, concealing her expression from the archer.

“Have you calmed down now?” he asked her.

She nodded, wiping her nose with her sleeve.

Oliver looked at her carefully for a moment. “Come on,” he motioned her to move away from the corner. “Get a jacket on, and then grab your gloves from outside. We’re going to Emerald Archer.”

Mia blinked, surprised, but rushed to do what her father said. Felicity tilted her head curiously from the counter, but when Oliver quickly explained what he planned to do, she agreed and asked him to have their daughter home by nine o’clock. She didn’t have school tomorrow as it would be a Saturday, but she shouldn’t be allowed to stay up too late as she would get even crankier. Felicity agreed to take the pretzels out of the oven at a certain time, but also did not promise there would be any left when they got home.

They took the SUV and the streets were empty on the way to the martial arts center. Mia didn’t speak at all during the drive. Holly didn’t look shocked to see them when they walked into reception, indicating that Felicity had probably called her to warn they were coming, and told Oliver that Mark was halfway through his last class of the night and they were closing up after that. Oliver nodded, telling her that he wasn’t sure how long they were going to be, but the staff were free to go home because he would lock up for them.

He led Mia into the empty gym room with wall mounted boxing bags and the cage ring. “Put your gloves on,” he ordered her.

His daughter hastily complied.

Taking her by the shoulders, Oliver moved her bodily until she was standing in front of one of the bags. “Punch the bag.”

Mia hesitated.

“Punch it,” he raised an eyebrow.

She hit the bag with enough force to make it ripple, but obviously not with her entire strength.

“Good,” he answered. “Now tell me why you didn’t want to train today.”

Mia immediately went red. “I was just being a brat.”

“No.” Oliver shook his head, softening. “You were being a brat because you didn’t want to train, but that’s not _why_ you didn’t want to train.”

“... I don’t like training without Auntie Nyssa,” she finally muttered.

There it was. The answer he’d been waiting for. He purposely shoved away his disappointment and urge to ask if she specifically didn’t like training with him, and instead, Oliver replied, “I know you miss your aunt, Mia, and I know it’s strange for you not to be training with her. But she asked me to make sure that you keep learning how to protect yourself properly. That doesn’t mean I have to be the one personally training you. If you’d prefer, I could ask Jennifer, Mark or Colton to give you private lessons. We could move you into the expert kids classes here.” 

“I want you to train me,” Mia whispered.

“Punch the bag.” She hit it again, with more force this time. “Good girl. If you’re sure you want me to keep training you, I will. But you can’t throw tantrums like you did earlier. As much as you miss Auntie Nyssa, that doesn’t give you the excuse to act like that.”

“I know.” Mia swallowed, looking down at the floor and toeing at the training mat beneath the bag with her sneaker shoe. “I’m sorry, Daddy. I know I was naughty. I shouldn’t have yelled at you and Mommy, or hit you. I should have told you I was sad about Auntie Nyssa and I shouldn’t have got angry.”

Sighing, he knelt down beside her, tucking a lock of his daughter’s hair behind her ear. “It’s okay to be angry, honey,” he told her. “It’s okay to be sad too. But keeping all those bad emotions bottled up inside you without telling Mommy and I is just going to result in you lashing out, like you did today. And it wasn’t very nice, was it?”

“No.”

“Hit the bag again.” Mia did as he said, this time putting a full amount of effort into her punch, rotating her hips and shoulders correctly and bringing her hands back up into a boxing stance before they dropped to her sides and she turned around to face him. “It wasn’t nice for Mommy and me, and it wasn’t nice for you. And you ended up being punished and that really wasn’t nice.”

“I don’t like time-outs in the corner,” Mia told him with a pout.

“That’s why it’s one of your punishments. You’re not meant to like it, baby,” he chuckled.

She managed a small smile, and stared at him with doleful eyes. “I really am sorry.”

“I know. When we get home, I’ll tell Mommy you apologized to me and you’ve learned your lesson. You’ll need to apologize to her as well. You still won’t get any tablet time this weekend and Mommy will still probably want you to write a letter saying sorry, but we’ll put this behind us, okay?”

“Okay.”

He kissed her on the forehead. He knew he was being a little soft… but she was his beautiful little girl. Oliver found it impossible to be hard on her. “We’re going to train here to make up for the time we lost earlier.”

“Can we go in the ring please?”

“We’ll do another ten minutes with the boxing bags and then some kickboxing in the ring.”

“Thank you, Daddy.” She paused and then said shyly, “Please don’t tell Auntie Nyssa about me being naughty.”

Mid-march, about a week after Mia’s hissy fit incident, Felicity had her second ultrasound. Although it was in the morning on a Wednesday, their daughter insisted on coming, so they took her out of kindergarten for the day. It was adorable how she gasped and awwed and squealed happily seeing her baby sibling on the screen; Oliver got immense feelings of deja vu watching the wiggling fetus, who was just as active and lively in Felicity’s womb as Mia had been. This baby had the habit of abusing her kidneys rather than her bladder though, so at least she wasn’t desperately needing to piss all the time. The doctor informed them that everything looked perfect.

As Oliver and Felicity promised Mia, she was allowed to find out the gender of the baby, as she claimed it would _kill her_ to have to wait along with her parents, who wanted the baby’s sex to be a surprise for them, until July. The doctor made her sign a special made-up contract saying she couldn’t tell Oliver and Felicity whether the baby was a girl or a boy; if she did, she forfeited her ice cream privileges for a whole year. That was the worst possible thing in the world to Mia, so she signed with a wild squiggle, and giggled to herself the whole ride home.

March progressed into April, and then into June. William arrived home from university and joined Oliver in working at Emerald Archer full-time during the summer. The two of them covered Jennifer’s classes while she was away, but she returned to America just in time for them both to reduce their hours, as they were needed at home a lot more to help out due to Felicity being very heavily pregnant at this point. She went on maternity leave mid-June, handing most of her Smoak Tech duties over to Alena; this wasn’t a choice - her doctor had ordered bed-rest, as she was getting constantly dizzy and tired and couldn’t even manage the porch steps without stumbling anymore. Mia was fascinated by her mother’s huge baby belly. She trotted around the house after Felicity, watching her mother waddle from room to room, but was also all too eager to help out whenever and however she could. The five-year-old was doing prep work as she was starting primary school in the fall, which William helped tutor her in.

Considering they only had a month to go, they sorted out their birth plan; after last time, and her over a day long, painkiller free labor with Mia, Felicity wanted to give birth at the Hatchinfield hospital. Dr Schwartz was going to be driven in, and John had agreed to come up to guard the outside of the private room - a precaution, but an unfortunately necessary one.

“This baby needs to get out of me,” Felicity groaned, at the end of the first week of July. It was the morning and they were eating pancakes that Oliver and William had made together. She’d taken to calling herself an abused whale - abused because the baby was a parkour enthusiast, perhaps even more lively than Mia had been. “God, how am I not due for another week?”

“The baby still needs time to grow!” Mia claimed, swinging her legs back and forth on her stool and shoveling the last pieces of her pancake into her mouth. She paused every so often to tear off a tiny piece and feed it to Archer, who was sitting beside her chair with his tail wagging. He expected Mia to sneak him little bits of food from the table nowadays - she’d been doing it for years. “Just seven more days, Mommy.”

“Could be a longer wait, or could be shorter,” Oliver shrugged. “Any day now, though, Felicity.”

“Keep your chin up,” William grinned.

Felicity rolled her eyes but nodded, whining as she tried to move from her seat at the kitchen table to the couch. William quickly stood up and hurried to help her, bracing a hand on her back. She shot him a grateful look as he got her settled down in the cushions.

“Okay, Mia, go get ready for your MMA class,” Oliver called to her. “Remember, Jennifer said you need your hair in braids today because you’re practicing takedowns. Do you want me to -”

“I can braid my own hair, Daddy!” Mia cut him off, shaking her head as if he was being silly. She vanished into her bedroom with Archer running behind her, to change out of her pajamas and braid her hair - which would probably take her ten minutes, because she’d only done it by herself twice before, yet still insisted she could manage it.

“Sure you can, baby,” Oliver snorted. Turning to his son, who was now an adult, he asked, “Do you want a ride in?”

“Nah, all of the classes I’m helping out in today are in the afternoon,” William responded, carrying the dirty plates and glasses to the sink. “Thanks for the offer, though.”

“Cool. Well, I’ll see you at the club later.”

“Wait, Dad -” Oliver stopped mid-stride from where he was heading out the door to start the car and get the air-con running. William suddenly looked very nervous, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Um. Can I talk to you and Felicity about something?”

His eyes immediately flashed to meet his wife’s. She looked excited, and relieved. Was William finally going to tell them about Jake?

“Of course, you can talk to us about anything,” he reassured.

They all got comfortable on the couches, Oliver leaning into Felicity’s side and resting his hand on top of hers over her huge pregnancy belly, smiling when he felt the baby kicking. William decided to perch on the edge of the armchair instead of actually sitting in it. He was wringing his hands anxiously. This was it. This had to be it.

“I’ve always hated lying,” William started. “And I’ve always hated secret keeping. The two of those may be considered different things by most people, but I’ve thought, ever since I was a kid, that they were the same. So by all technicalities,” he leveled them with a serious look. “I’ve been lying to you. For more than a year.”

“Sometimes people lie for good reasons,” Oliver offered weakly.

“There’s never a good reason to lie,” William shook his head. “And in this case, there was no reason whatsoever. I don’t think -”

“Fuck.”

William stopped speaking and Oliver frowned, turning to his wife, who was frowning down at her belly and wincing ever so slightly.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, sorry. Just. Braxton kicks.”

“... right.” William blinked. “As I was saying… I realized that I was just being stupid and not thinking it all through properly - the secret I’ve been keeping from you, that is - and it’s time I told you the truth. Not just because the two of you deserve it, but because I do as well. Dad… Felicity… I’m -”

“Oh fuck _fuck fuck_.” Felicity’s back arched against the couch, and to both Oliver and William’s alarm, appeared to be flushed and panting from pain. Her hand gripped the archer’s tightly, squeezing his fingers like a vice. “Oh my _god_.”

It didn’t take long for Oliver to figure out what was going on. “Are you in labor!?”

“You know what?” Felicity wheezed. “I think I am. That felt very much like a contraction and not a Braxton kick. Guess all those twinges and cramps I’ve been having since last night weren’t just pregnancy discomfort.” Glancing back at William, she ordered, “Continue, please.”

William stared at her in disbelief. “Felicity, you’re in labor.”

“Yes, but I probably won’t be accepted into hospital for another couple of hours,” she replied breathlessly. “This is just the beginning of labor, after all. We’ve got time.”

They did. Oliver forced himself to relax. There was no point freaking out now. There would be plenty of time for that later.

Their son, however, was already panicking a little. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“William Christopher Clayton Smoak-Queen, listen to me, _right now_. Your baby brother slash sister has suddenly decided to vacate my uterus by shoving their way out of my vagina and in a couple hours time, I’m barely going to be able to breathe, let alone concentrate on this big secret you’re apparently going to tell us.” She gave him a scarily calm smile. “Now _talk_.”

Oliver had to cover his mouth to muffle his laughter, because William genuinely looked alarmed by how cool and composed his stepmother was, despite literally beginning to birth a tiny human being.

“I think this can wait,” William said warily.

“William, I swear to god… Precisely this very moment is probably going to be the one and only time you’re going to get to talk to me in the next thirty-six hours, if this labor takes as long as your little sister’s did. This _cannot_ wait.” Felicity had released Oliver’s hand and was now grabbing the couch arm, her knuckles white and face pale. “Please just tell us. Please. _Please_.”

William stared at her, his worried expression morphing into a confused frown. Realization flashed in his eyes, before resignation set in. “You already know, don’t you?” he asked quietly.

Felicity was too busy heaving deep, heavy breaths to respond, so Oliver glanced over at their son and told him gently, “We’d still like to hear you tell us.”

“Why does it matter when you already know what I’m going to say?”

“Because you are our son, we love you no matter what, and this is _your_ moment, not ours.”

“Pretty sure this is technically _your_ moment. You’re the one in labor,” he pointed out, looking down at her belly and flinching when Felicity began gritting her teeth again as another sharp, mini contraction set in.

Tears filled Felicity’s eyes. Pregnancy hormones meant she easily got emotional these days - especially when it came to emotional moments just like this one. Oliver stood up to grab the box of tissues on the kitchen worktop as William flailed, finally sitting down beside his stepmother and hugging her awkwardly from the side in an attempt to comfort her.

“I don’t care,” Felicity sniffled. “This pain at the moment is nowhere near as important as you and your story. We love you so, so much, William, more than you could even comprehend, and we will always love you, and we will always, _always_ accept you. I speak for both of us when I say that as long as you are happy and healthy, we as your parents are happy. So if you love somebody - it doesn’t matter who they are, or what gender or sexuality they are - and they make you happy, we will be over the moon for you.”

William nodded, crying quietly as well now. “I’m gay,” he confessed, his voice shaky. Oliver’s shoulders instantly relaxed, and he could see Felicity breathing out in relief as well now the truth was out in the open. “I have a boyfriend. His name is Jake, he’s from California, and we’ve been dating for… a while. Over a year now. I met him in my biology seminars.” He maintained eye contact, switching between looking at them both directly as he waited for their reactions.

“We’re so happy for you, Will,” Felicity said softly.

“We are,” Oliver agreed.

William looked relieved. “Thanks. You know, I really think you’d both like him. He’s been living with me at my apartment. He’s really smart and kind and sweet, and he loves books, comics, and vintage movies, and hates pineapple pizza. Pixel loves him. If it’s okay with both of you, I’d like to bring him home to meet the two of you and Mia.”

“Somebody said my name?” Mia wandered back out into the living room, with Archer at her heels and a rather wonky french braid. Her gaze fell upon her mother, who was blowing air in and out of her mouth slowly, and her eyes widened. “Mommy, is the baby coming?”

“Yep, they sure are, little star,” William jumped off the couch, swiftly swiping away his tears to sweep the five-year-old up into his arms and onto his hip. “So you and I are gonna hang out at Emerald Archer today and I’m gonna look after you until Felicity and Dad say it’s okay for us to come to the hospital to meet our little brother or sister.”

“Are you crying?” Mia asked him, touching her fingers to his cheek. “Why are you crying?”

“I just told Felicity and Dad about Jake.”

“Oh!” Her expression brightened. “Can he come to my birthday party now?”

Before William could answer, Felicity was tugging at Oliver’s sleeve, peering up at him seriously with her face as white as a sheet. “I think we should go to the hospital now,” she told him, her voice low and strained. “This baby feels like it’s coming a lot quicker than Mia did.”

Oliver nodded, his throat closing up. The new member of their family was coming, and coming fast. He began helping Felicity out of the chair and towards the door, leaving her to lean against the counter so he could pick up their hospital bag.

“Go on ahead. I’ll call John and Dr Schwartz,” William told them. “If I tell them it’s a Flash emergency, they’ll get in contact with Barry so he can get them to the hospital quickly.”

“Barry?” Oliver repeated incredulously. “You want to get _Barry Allen involved in_ -”

“Hey, he’s only messed with the timeline once since he and Iris had the twins,” Felicity shot him a glare.

“And besides, he’s only going to be acting as a speedster taxi service,” William added. “He can’t possibly mess that up, right?”

“We’re obviously not talking about the same Barry Allen -”

“Oliver.” Felicity heaved a groan, her knees shaking beneath her. Oliver dropped the hospital bag and was at her side faster than lightning, supporting her back and making sure she didn’t fall down. “We need John and we need Dr Schwartz. Barry can get them here. And I _really_ need some painkillers right now.”

He nodded hastily, glancing back at William. “Mia’s MMA session -”

“There’s a reason I have a driving license and a car, Dad. Don’t worry about Mia and I. I’ll look after her and Archer. Just get Felicity to the hospital now.”

“Good luck!” Mia chirped. “Call us _right away_ when our baby comes please!”


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for much for your support with this fic, im so happy you've enjoyed it so much!! big thanks to jesi once again for the inspiration and sam for her support and cheer-leading xx
> 
> this verse is open for anybody to write in, if they'd like to. its a sandbox ready for y'all to jump and play in. future fics with the happy smoak-queen family will probably desperately be needed over summer hiatus :) 
> 
> hope you enjoy the last chapter!

_“There’s a reason I have a driving license and a car, Dad. Don’t worry about Mia and I. I’ll look after her and Archer. Just get Felicity to the hospital now.”_

_“Good luck!” Mia chirped. “Call us_ right away _when our baby comes please!”_

Five hours later, on July 4th 2024, Lucas Robert Smoak-Queen was born into the world. He arrived silently, much to everybody’s alarm, but after he was whisked away by Dr Schwartz for a minute or two to get his lungs, mouth, and nose cleared, he graced them with powerful, screaming wails. Felicity sobbed, covered in sweat, tears, blood, and god knows what other gunk, when their tiny baby boy was placed onto her bare chest for the first time. He was small and wrinkled with beautiful blue eyes, and remained curled up in a ball, as if he hadn’t realized that he was out of his mother’s womb yet; he quietened almost instantly when Felicity stroked down his back and over his little tuft of blond hair with her fingertips.

The doctors and nurses continued to rush around for a bit, checking the baby and Felicity over to make sure they were both healthy and safe. Lucas was dressed in a little light green onesie with a white hat; he had to be given a nasal cannula for oxygen for around twenty minutes before they were happy to give the baby back to his parents, but Dr Schwartz quickly shooed them out once everything was sorted, promising Oliver and Felicity some alone time.

“God, I love you so much,” Oliver croaked, lying next to Felicity on her hospital bed so he could look down at her holding their newborn son. “He’s perfect.”

“It almost doesn’t feel real,” Felicity said, dazed and exhausted. “It didn’t feel real with Mia, and it doesn’t feel real with him either. Just having him here, holding him…” She glanced up at him with a smile. “You haven’t held him yet.”

“I don’t want to take him away from you,” he replied honestly.

“When Mia and William get here, you’re hardly going to get any time to hold him yourself. C’mon - take him now.”

He gasped when Felicity helped maneuver Lucas into his arms. He was even lighter than Mia had been as a newborn, and perhaps even more fragile. It made the archer scared to move wrong. Oliver might have got a lot of experience with holding babies thanks to Mia, but he felt like he was being thrust into the deep end with this; he was out of practice by about four years, after all. Lucas was so small he barely fit into both of Oliver’s hands. Staring up at his father silently, Lucas gave an adorable tiny yawn which contorted his entire face and made Oliver laugh breathlessly.

There was a delicate knock on the door, and after a second, John poked his head around. “Am I interrupting?” he asked, his voice hushed.

“My husband’s just crying,” Felicity chuckled. “Come in, John. Where’s Barry?”

“Had to rush off. Iris called. Something about the twins speed-crawling in the CCPD precinct,” John informed them, as he walked over. “I got in contact with Will. He’s on his way with Mia.” He stopped to stand over Oliver, peering down at his new nephew with a huge grin on his face. “Wow, guys. Congratulations. He’s amazing. I’d ask to hold him but I’m betting that Oliver would be ready to straight up punch me if I tried to take him away from you.”

“You’ve always known when it’s sensible to gamble.” Oliver couldn’t tear his eyes away from his son. “Did you ever think that this is where we’d end up, when the two of you joined my crusade twelve years ago?”

“Standing beside the two of you, watching you hold your newborn son?” John quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, I knew two months in.” His phone chimed. “Will and Mia are here. I’ll go down and meet them so I can bring them up.”

“Thank you, John,” Felicity murmured. “For everything.”

“It’s been an honor and a pleasure.”

When Mia and William shuffled into the hospital room, their eyes widened with wonder and they rushed over without any hesitation to meet their baby brother for the first time. Oliver continued to hold Lucas as his two other kids cooed and whispered greetings to the baby, and he smiled as they both reached out to get Lucas to grasp their fingers with his tiny hands and giggled when he took hold of them firmly, latching onto them. 

All too eager to hold his brother, William took a seat in one of the hospital chairs and allowed his father to settle Lucas down into his arms. He obviously remembered how to cradle a baby as he took hold of him expertly, supporting his head carefully. Mia hung over William’s shoulder, peering down at Lucas open-mouthed and lost for words.

“Do you wanna hold him?” William offered, when he noticed Mia stroking her knuckles gently up and down one of Lucas’ arms.

“Oh.” Mia took a step back, looking down at the floor nervously. “Um. I dunno.”

“We’ll help you, sweetheart,” Oliver reassured her. “I know it’s daunting to hold a baby for the first time, but you’re going to do great.”

She still appeared unsure. “But he’s so tiny,” she mumbled. “I don’t wanna drop him and break him.”

Felicity sat up straighter in bed, shifting until she was leaning against the backboard. “You won’t, Mia, but if it makes you feel better, you can come and sit with me on the bed with him.”

The five-year-old nodded, relieved, and clambered up onto the bed to sit between Felicity’s legs with her back to her mother’s chest. With Felicity’s help, she accepted Lucas from William’s arms and cradled the newborn against her chest. Mia’s breathing stuttered when Lucas’ blue eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at her curiously. Once she saw that her baby brother was happy and content in her arms, Mia slumped back onto Felicity’s front silently, bathing in the peacefulness of the moment.

“Hi, Lucas,” she whispered. “I’m your big sister, Mia. I’m really happy to meet you.”

Felicity and Oliver smiled at each other tearfully over Mia’s head. They’d never imagined they would get this far: married, living happily in a house in the woods, with their now adult son, five-year-old daughter and newborn son, retired from the superhero life with new purposes in the form of their companies and a legacy for the ages. Oliver hadn’t expected to live past his first year under the hood, and yet here he was with the love of his life and their children, running an MMA training school and entirely happy, living a full life. Felicity had thought it impossible for her crush on Oliver to be reciprocated, and yet here she was now married to him and mother to his three kids, having created her own multi-million dollar technology business to ensure their family was financially secure.

Dr Schwartz wanted to keep Felicity and Lucas overnight to keep an eye on them, as Lucas’ blood glucose levels were a little low and Felicity’s blood pressure was all over the place. John promised to stay with them at the hospital while Oliver took the kids home. Mia was incredibly disappointed that they wouldn’t be taking her baby brother home that night, but she perked up when Oliver told her that she and William could get a pizza delivered for dinner and help him prepare Lucas’ nursery.

Felicity had been using the fourth spare bedroom as a home office, but they’d slowly been converting William’s bedroom into a semi-office over the last couple of months, and transforming the fourth bedroom into a nursery. Mia’s room when she was a baby had been decorated as a jungle, so they’d wanted to try something different for Lucas’, but still sticking to their family green theme - they ended up painting huge black, grey and green mountains over the walls. While munching on greasy pepperoni pizza slices that night, they stocked Lucas’ changing table with diapers, wipes and rash cream and got all of his clothes out of the storage boxes. They hadn’t been expecting him to arrive for another week, after all, so they’d planned to do all of this at the weekend.

“How does it feel to be a big sister?” he asked Mia as they relaxed to watch the live-action remake of _The Sword of the Stone_. The five-year-old was sitting on William’s lap on the couch, cuddling into her brother’s shoulder with Archer huddled up beside them. “Are you happy Lucas is finally here?”

“Uh huh,” Mia answered, eyes fixed on the TV screen. “I’m really happy but I’m also kinda scared.”

“Why, baby?”

“I know it’s gonna get harder for you and Mommy to spend time with me now and we’re all gonna be tired all the time.”

“I might have told her how difficult it’s going to be to get any proper sleep since babies wake up so often during the night,” William admitted, looking guilty. “And how you and Felicity are going to be unilaterally focused on Lucas for the next few weeks. But that’s okay, isn’t it, Mia?” He rubbed her arm.

Mia nodded. “Yeah, Will and I are gonna hang out at Emerald Archer so we’re out of your way,” she explained to Oliver. “And we’re gonna go hiking with Archer along Hatchinfield Ridge, and study at the library together.”

“Well, it’s great that the two of you are going to be spending time with each other, but you don’t have to worry about lack of sleep. All the bedroom walls are already soundproofed - the doors weren’t, which is why you could hear Mia crying when she was a baby, William, but Felicity and I had them all replaced with fully soundproof doors now. You both have our permission to close your doors at night when going to bed. Hopefully you’ll be able to sleep through Lucas’ crying without being disturbed.”

“Great,” William sighed.

“Okay, I’m beat. I’m going to check in with John and Felicity, and then head to bed.” Oliver heaved himself to his feet, stretching out. “You two go to sleep as soon as this movie finishes, alright?”

“Yes, Daddy,” Mia nodded.

William gave a thumbs-up. “Got it, Dad.”

The archer whistled for Archer, and the whippet mix jumped down from the cushions to trot after him into the bedroom. Oliver never slept well without Felicity anymore and wouldn’t be able to get to sleep at all if he was alone in bed. He might be able to get at least a couple of hours of rest with the dog curled up at his feet.

Climbing into bed, he called his best friend to speak to his wife; Felicity told him she’d been transferred into another private room off the maternity floor and Lucas was currently fast asleep in a bassinet beside her. By some miracle, he hadn’t cried since those first initial moments after his birth. Oliver questioned worriedly if that meant there might be something wrong, but Felicity reassured him that Dr Schwartz said everything was fine - they just had a very quiet baby.

Lucas continued to be quiet when he came home, as well. He was constantly content and to everybody’s surprise, barely cried. That actually meant that Oliver and Felicity were able to get decent sleep most nights. Mia and William loved looking after their baby brother and spending time with him during the day, and throughout July and August, while William was still at home, they tried to spend as much time together as a whole family as possible.

They took walks in the redwood forest, Lucas strapped in a papoose to one of his parent’s chests while the other held Archer’s leash, and William and Mia ran on ahead, chasing each other and laughing. Eventually they had to unclip the whippet mix from his leash because he was yanking on it, so he could dash forward and play with both the children, barking happily. Sometimes, Mia would ask to carry Lucas and show him around the forest, pointing out certain things and repeating the word, as if she expected the one-month-old baby to be able to say it back to her. It was adorable.

They actually spent time together at Emerald Archer as a family as well. Felicity had been too busy with Smoak Tech to undertake some MMA classes herself; she knew self-defense, of course, as Oliver and John had trained her back when they’d been living in Star City, but her skills had slipped since she hadn’t practiced in years. Since she was still on maternity leave and Oliver was able to take care of Lucas, Felicity was finally able to get back into the ring for a little bit and brush up on her self-defense training.

While Oliver bounced Lucas up and down on his knees as they sat together in the foam pit, Mia, William, and Felicity did some boxing and kickboxing together in the ring. It was strange to see his son and wife standing off against one another; it was obvious that William was going easy on his stepmother as he didn’t want to hurt her or push her, since she was still recovering from the birth. It was therefore hilarious when Felicity rolled her eyes, stepped forward and flipped William over her shoulder, placing her foot on his chest lightly and smirking down at him.

“Not fair!” William claimed, face contorted in disbelief. “Dad didn’t teach you that move!”

“Nope,” she grinned. “I learned it from the White Canary.”

“Since when did you get training from the Legends?”

“Sara taught me some self-defense before she was even recruited for the Waverider crew, actually - back when she was part of Team Arrow, god, over a decade ago now. There are more moves where that one came from.”

“Sara never beat Dad at sparring though, right?” William questioned, as Felicity helped him up from the floor.

“Oh, she beat me repeatedly,” Oliver told him dryly. “And you might not want to -”

William had turned his back on Felicity, who upon seeing the opportunity, jabbed her foot into the back of his right knee. Their son crumbled to the ground with a yelp.

“ - turn your back,” the archer finished.

Mia rolled onto her back, giggling uproariously as her big brother slunk away with his tail between his legs, muttering about it being unfair his stepmother was such a badass in all different areas.

“You up for a spar, baby girl?” Felicity asked Mia, raising her fists.

“I’m sorry, Mommy, Will hurt my arm when he got me in a lock,” their daughter replied sweetly, her eyes wide and innocent. “I need to go put an icepack on it.”

“You cheeky little monkey, you’re completely fine!” Felicity began to chase after her, tickling her sides. Mia screamed and tried to sprint away, gasping through her laughter that she surrendered. Once she’d swung Mia up over her shoulder, holding her in a half fireman’s carry as she recovered, Felicity turned to Oliver with a raised eyebrow, challenging him, “You up for a match, arrowboy?”

“Oh no, I know when to pick and choose my battles, and this is not one of them.”

The time came for William to return to Massachusetts, and he made sure he made a big deal of saying goodbye to his little siblings. He showered Lucas with kisses and cuddles, making funny faces and talking to him in a high, animated voice; his baby brother really seemed to enjoy it. With Mia, he took her out for pizza and they had another fun foam pit session at Emerald Archer.

“I’ll be back for your birthday party, kiddo,” he told her, kneeling down and hugging her as he was about to get a taxi to the airport. “Just like every year.”

“Will you bring Jake with you this time?” she asked.

“Maybe,” William responded, his eyes flickering up to meet Oliver and Felicity’s. “We’ll see. You’ve gotta promise me you’re going to try your very best at school.” She was starting primary school next week, in four days.

“I will!” she promised.

“And keep up your training,” he told her, ruffling her hair and making her whine as her ponytail was messed up. “Dad’s gonna need a new assistant at Emerald Archer.”

Mia’s eyes widened and she whipped around to look at Oliver, bouncing up and down on her heels excitedly. “Can I help, Daddy? Can I be your new assistant?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not,” he grinned. “I could use another pair of fists to help me whip the beginners into shape.”

“Oliver.” Felicity rolled her eyes, rocking back and forth with Lucas sleeping on her shoulder. “She’s five. Too young.”

“Okay. Then for your sixth birthday, when you become a _big _girl, Mia, you can become my assistant as one of your gifts.” Oliver winked at his daughter. “How does that sound?”__

__“Great!” Mia cheered. She turned her puppy dog eyes on her mother. “Can I, Mommy? Please? Pretty please?”_ _

__“Well…”_ _

__“I’ll change Lucas’ diapers for a week!”_ _

__Felicity’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow. You’d really subject yourself to your baby brother’s poops for a whole week to get to be Daddy’s assistant?”_ _

__Mia nodded, although she scrunched up her nose at the thought._ _

__She sighed. “Okay, then. You can help Daddy at Emerald Archer, _but_ \- only at the weekends, and only if you complete your homework every night without complaining.”_ _

__Mia’s face lit up and she gave William a high-five. Her big brother hugged her one last time before saying his goodbyes to both Oliver, Felicity, and Lucas, and heading off to the airport in the taxi. Archer followed the car down the driveway, barking, until it vanished in the trees. Praising the whippet mix as he cantered back towards them, Mia ran with the dog around to the backyard to go and play, leaving her parents and little brother standing on the gravel, staring into the forest, which their older son had just disappeared into._ _

__“That never gets any easier,” Felicity sighed, sidling up to Oliver and passing Lucas over to him. The baby immediately nuzzled into his father’s shirt with a soft sigh. “It’s just as hard to watch him leave home now, as an adult, as it was when he was starting university.”_ _

__“He’s always going to be our son, no matter how old he gets.” Oliver tugged on his wife’s hand. “C’mon, let’s go inside. Lucas is getting cold and tired, and needs to be put down for a nap.”_ _

__Her lips twitching into a smirk, Felicity slipped her hand down from where it was placed on the small of Oliver’s back so she was resting it on his ass instead. “Want to lie down for a ‘nap’ of our own?”_ _

__“Oh, I would love to,” he leaned down to brush his lips against hers, but before they could deepen the kiss further, he pulled back reluctantly. “But I promised Mia that we could scout out our acre of the woods to find a good place to start building a permanent shelter for camping next weekend.”_ _

__Felicity pouted in disappointment, but nodded in understanding. “Right. And I should probably pump some bottles considering you’re taking Lucas to Emerald Archer tomorrow so I can work. Our kids come first - even before our sex life.”_ _

__“Our sex life is what led to our kids,” Oliver chuckled. “And considering we now have three… I figure we can take a little bit of a break.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Especially as Dr Schwartz said we should hold off for a couple of months.”_ _

__Felicity groaned. “I thought you’d forgotten about that.”_ _

__“You need time to heal,” he reminded her. Lucas made a faint sound, and Oliver stroked down his back to soothe him. “And you need time to rest, if you’re planning on going back to work next week.”_ _

__“Oliver…” He hadn’t hesitated to express his opinion on Felicity returning to work - he wanted her to leave Smoak Tech in Alena’s hands for another two months, until they started partially weaning him off breastmilk and onto formula. But Felicity wanted to take back control of her company as soon as possible. “I’ve told you before, I think I’m ready. Please respect my decision.”_ _

__“I do,” Oliver swallowed. “That doesn’t change the fact that I still wish you’d wait a little longer.”_ _

__“I’m going to ease myself in. I won’t overwhelm myself, Oliver. Trust that I know what I’m doing.”_ _

__“You always know what you’re doing.”_ _

__“DADDY!”_ _

__“Better get going before she shouts the forest down,” Felicity grinned._ _

__Dropping a kiss to his son’s forehead, Oliver handed Lucas back to Felicity and then kissed her sweetly as well, before heading over to their daughter, who was jumping up and down impatiently so her head bobbed up and down over the backyard gate. “I’m coming, baby girl, I’m coming. Tie your hair back and put your hiking boots on - on the back step, not inside, please! We don’t want mud everywhere, do we?”_ _

__Mia’s first week at primary school went about as well could be expected. There were a couple of kids who picked on her because she was so young, but she quickly put them all in their place by showcasing her intelligence and academic prowess and beating them all in the class quizzes. She made a few friends and already had a little group thanks to the fact that she already knew some of the kids, as they’d been in her intermediate MMA class. Her teacher, a lovely young woman called Miss Smithson, was impressed by Mia’s work ethic considering her age and, recognizing within three days that she was at an advanced reading level, sent a list of books home that she recommended Felicity and Oliver help her read. She gave Mia extra math sheets so she wouldn’t get bored. They were thankful that Smithson was so welcoming to the five-year-old joining her class, and so willing to give her work beyond her grade level to keep her mind stimulated._ _

__Oliver was coming home one morning after dropping Mia at school and taking Archer out for a walk in the hills to hear Felicity talking heatedly on her cell phone, pacing back and forth in the living room while burping Lucas. He quickly unhooked Archer from his leash so the dog could run off and he could step forward to take the two-month-old baby from her arms, leaving Felicity to concentrate more on her call. She shot him a grateful look despite the anger and frustrated in her gaze, and motioned she was going to be roughly five more minutes._ _

__Slipping Lucas into his high chair, Oliver gave the baby one of his favorite rattles before occupying himself starting to prepare dinner for that night. He’d half-way filled a pot of water with peeled, halved potatoes when Felicity slid up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly._ _

__“I need to bitch to you about idiots at my company,” she mumbled into his back._ _

__“I didn’t think you employed idiots.”_ _

__“I don’t. They’re technically not my employees. They’re board members.”_ _

__“Bitch away, my love.”_ _

__“Okay.” Felicity swiveled away and hopped up so she was sitting on the counter, bringing her feet up so she could sit with her legged crossed. She watched Oliver as he continued slicing vegetables. “So. When I went on maternity leave, I handed most of my accounts and projects over to Alena, to be shelved. But one of them couldn’t be - the Overwatch satellite. You know that it took me two years to get the Archer satellite ready to be launched, and another six months for the physical launch to happen and it to reach its ideal orbit. That’s because every single line of coding when it comes to Smoak Tech satellites has to be approved by me.” She rested her chin on her hand. “In July and August, because I wasn’t there, the board decided to take that as an opportunity to go behind my back and upload coding and software onto the Overwatch satellite without my approval. It was already about 70% completed - now, it’s finished, and they’ve sped the entire schedule up so the satellite is going to launch at the end of November.”_ _

__“Let me guess,” Oliver glanced up at her. “This is a bad thing.”_ _

__“Very bad,” Felicity nodded. “A single line of that code they uploaded without my approval could cause the entire satellite to crash and burn. Alena didn’t even get the chance to check it over before they shipped it off to R &D for the last stages of construction. The two of us are trying to convince the board to let us take back control and push back the launch date so we can properly evaluate all the code they loaded on without our permission, but they’re being really cagey about it. We managed to convince them to agree to a meeting at Star City HQ - and this is why they’re idiots. They’ve arranged it on October 9th.”_ _

__The archer paused, setting down his knife. “That’s the day before -”_ _

__“Mia’s birthday, I know.”_ _

__He grimaced. “Really? They picked that date? Specifically?”_ _

__“Oh, they definitely did it on purpose. I think they’re hoping I won’t turn up. The meeting starts on the 9th, but negotiations could extend for a week after.” She stared at him, her expression serious. “I have to go. You know that, right?”_ _

__“Mia’s not going to be happy you’re missing her birthday, but I’m sure if we explain it to her, she’ll understand.”_ _

__“Oh, hell no. I’m not missing her birthday.” She bit her lip, looking at him shyly. “I was actually going to propose that we _all_ go to Star City. Make it a family trip. We can take Mia down to see the bunker for the first time, and she can celebrate her birthday with all her aunts and uncles… they can all meet Lucas for the first time.”_ _

__Oliver couldn’t help but be surprised. When they’d left the city in 2019 to retire from vigilantism and raise their family, both he and Felicity had agreed that their new home needed to be off the grid, and they needed to stay off the radar as much as possible; they’d managed to do that, although it had been quite difficult. They hadn’t attracted any media attention since moving to Bloomfield, and the only people who had been personally told about their house and family were the members of Team Arrow, Lyla, Donna Smoak, and a few select members of Team Flash and the Legends. The Smoak Tech board and executives had signed non-disclosure agreements, and the citizens of Bloomfield and Hatchinfield had kept quiet about Oliver and Felicity’s presences in their towns. Emerald Archer Martial Arts, being a local business, was only really spoken about in a small radius surrounding the town, so no big news companies had caught wind of it yet. Oliver was pretty certain that the rest of the world had no idea that he and Felicity even had children. To return to Star City meant risking exposing their new lives and their kids to the public - and the criminals they were so determined to keep their family safe from._ _

__“I’ve already talked to John and Lyla about it,” Felicity said quickly, as if she could tell what he was thinking. “They’re going to set us up in an ARGUS apartment in the city and help us stay out of the limelight. Dinah is going to make sure that a few trusted select members of the police know we’re in town and are ready to respond with cease and desist orders in case any reporters get a little bitey. Oh, and I’ve booked a dogsitter for Archer and asked about taking Mia out of school for that week.”_ _

__Oliver laughed. “So what you’re saying is that you’ve already arranged everything for this vacation week and you just need my seal of approval?”_ _

__“Do I have it?”_ _

__“You always do. You know that. I’m happy to be returning to our first home and I’m sure Mia will be excited to see where her parents fell in love and became superheroes - as well as see her aunts and uncles again, of course.”_ _

__Felicity beamed delightedly and leaned in to brush her lips against his. His eyes fluttering shut, Oliver slipped between her open legs and pulled her to the edge of the counter so they could begin a heated make-out session. They were forced to break apart with a groan, however, when Lucas dropped his rattle and released an indignant cry. Archer scampered in and grabbed the rattle, shaking it in his jaws, which only made the baby cry more._ _

__“Come here, little prince,” Felicity lifted him out of his high chair as Oliver bent down to wrestle the whippet mix for the rattle, and after collecting it, starting to disinfect it. “It seems you’ve inherited the same genes Mia did that give you the annoying sense of when exactly to interrupt your parents kissing before it can escalate further.” Lucas began chewing his mother’s t-shirt, spit bubbles escaping his lips as he moaned faintly. “Right. I should have guessed. How is it possible you have an even bigger appetite than your big sister did when she was your age?”_ _

__As he finished disinfecting the rattle, Oliver grabbed a pre-pumped milk bottle out of the fridge and placed it into the bottle warmer. “Hey, he’s a hungry, growing boy. Remember, he was a little underweight when he was born. It’s okay for him to be having a bottle or two more of milk a day.”_ _

__Felicity’s cell phone rang again, cutting through her humming as she rocked Lucas back and forth to soothe him. She released a rather inhuman whine of exasperation, resting her cheek on top of their son’s soft head as she checked the screen._ _

__“It’s Alena,” she groaned._ _

__“Take it,” he smiled. “I’ll feed Lucas. This will all be sorted soon and then you’ll be a lot less stressed.”_ _

__“God I hope so,” she muttered._ _

__They traveled down to Star City on October 8th, the day before Felicity’s meeting with the Smoak Tech board and two days before Mia’s sixth birthday. Mia had been ecstatic at the idea of spending her birthday with her extended family and was especially excited to see the bunker, after all the times Felicity and Oliver had told her stories about it. Lyla and John greeted them at ARGUS HQ with JJ, who was now a gangly pre-teen, and their adopted son Connor. To their delight, it looked as if the Diggle family was going to increase by size by one more by the end of the year as well._ _

__“You’re pregnant!” Felicity grinned at Lyla. “Oh my god, congrats!”_ _

__“Thank you,” Lyla laughed. She appeared to be about four or five months pregnant, at this point. “Yeah, it was a little unexpected, but it’s a nice surprise. The boys are super happy about being big brothers.” Tilting her head, she softened her voice and asked, “And who is this adorable little nugget?” as Lucas stared at her from Felicity’s arms._ _

__“This is Lucas. He’s three months now.”_ _

__“Wow, the Smoak-Queen clan keeps growing!”_ _

__“I don’t think it will ever stop,” John teased them._ _

__Oliver rolled his eyes, shifting Mia in his arms. She’d fallen asleep in the car on the journey down and remained dozing on his shoulder. “I think Felicity and I are pretty much done reproducing at this point. You and Lyla aren’t, apparently.”_ _

__“C’mon, let’s get you guys to your safehouse.” Lyla threw a pair of keys up and down in her hand. “Your daughter looks like she needs a bed to sleep on rather than her father’s hard shoulder.”_ _

__After they’d settled into their apartment for the week and Mia had woken up from her nap, they headed down to the bunker together, where Rene and Dinah greeted them. Laurel was apparently in Central City, helping Team Flash deal with some Earth Two multiverse mischief makers. Mia jumped down the staircase to sprint and hug everybody, and then went straight to Zoe, who had grown into a beautiful and confident young woman. Zoe swung Mia around in a circle and then ran off with the five-year-old to show her around. JJ and Connor raced after them, leaving the adults alone with Lucas, who Felicity had carried in in his car seat as he had fallen asleep._ _

__“So this is the new nephew we’ve heard nothing about!” Dinah said, stooping down to look at him with an adoring look._ _

__“Yeah, sorry about that,” Felicity said sheepishly. “It’s been a very busy couple of months.”_ _

__“Hey, we’re just glad you found the time to visit,” Rene said. “S’been a while since we’ve all been down here.” He peered around the bunker, which apart from a few tech upgrades that Felicity had ordered from home, seemed exactly the same and had hardly changed. “It’s hard to believe it’s been six years, huh.”_ _

__“Definitely,” Oliver agreed. His gaze wandered around the space until it settled on his Green Arrow suit display case. Over half a decade, and they hadn’t packed it away. “Feels weird being back here.”_ _

__“Ever consider putting the suit back on and picking up your bow and quiver for one last ride?” Rene asked him curiously._ _

__“No.” Oliver didn’t even hesitate to answer. “My one last ride was our final battle against the Ninth Circle, which we won. I’m fully retired. Putting the suit back on now would be disrespectful to my family and the life we’ve built together since I hung up my hood. Besides, I don’t need my bow and quiver to get my adrenaline fix nowadays; I run a successful mixed martial arts training club. If I want a fight or sparring session, I can get one any time I want, in a safe and controlled environment.”_ _

__“I heard Mia’s been getting some training,” Dinah said, planting her hands on her hips. “How’s she doing?”_ _

__“How about you hit the mats with her yourself, and check her out?” Felicity suggested. “We’re here for the next week… she’d love to train with you.”_ _

__“You sure?” John raised an eyebrow. “She’s still a child.”_ _

__Felicity smirked. “Oh, she’ll be able to keep up. You’ll see why, once you see the way Nyssa and Oliver have trained her. She might be five years old - very nearly six - but she’s a badass. William will be arriving tomorrow, so you can train with him too. He’s Oliver’s assistant at Emerald Archer Martial Arts - he can handle himself pretty well.”_ _

__“What about you?” Lyla asked. “Have you been keeping up with your training?”_ _

__“I take one or two classes of Oliver’s a month, if I can make the time, but I still prefer to stick to my electronics. Everybody knows I can throw a mean punch if I need to - I’d rather work on my company, really. Speaking of my electronics, I’ve got some Archer updates to install on the computers in here and a new uplink to the Archer satellite to code, so you guys can access the Overwatch satellite when it’s launched and connected.”_ _

__The next day, Felicity went to her meeting at Smoak Tech while Oliver took Mia and Lucas down to the bunker again. Mia dressed in her work-out clothes and joined Rene, John and Dinah’s training session - when William arrived around noon, he participated as well. The archer was proud to see that his three friends and former teammates appeared impressed by his children’s skills. Sitting on the monitor platform with Lucas on his lap, Oliver used the computers to run through some of Emerald Archer’s financials, checking how their year had been going so far; their profits were increased and appeared to be on an exponential climb. They already had a waiting list for both children and adults classes that was over two pages long; the MMA club was getting bigger, and soon they might need to set up a secondary gym and hire more staff and trainers in, to keep up with demand._ _

__“Mia’s roundhouse kicks are getting slicker,” William said, panting and dripping sweat as he made his way up the platform steps, wiping himself down with a towel. “Her stamina is incredible as well. She’s been training for an hour longer than me but she’s still going; I needed to tap out after Uncle Dig threw me. Wrenched my shoulder, might need some Advil later.”_ _

__“She’s improving, that’s for sure,” Oliver agreed. “Don’t tell her, but I’ve got her a training vest for her birthday - an official Emerald Archer one, with Junior Training Assistant on the back.”_ _

__“She’ll love that.”_ _

__“Yep.” Oliver swung his chair around so he could face his older son, while cradling his younger one against his shoulder. “I don’t want to pry or be that nagging parent,” he said, starting off somewhat warily, “But I noticed that you came alone to Star City… when we were expecting a plus one.” He paused and added, “A very specific plus one.”_ _

__“Dad…”_ _

__“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Oliver said quickly, seeing the flash of pain crossing William’s face. “I just thought maybe… you might feel better if you talked about it?”_ _

__William stared at him for a moment before sighing and drawing up his own chair, collapsing down into it and wheeling it closer until he and Oliver were sitting directly opposite each other. Oliver watched in concern as the teenager ran his hands through his hair, taking a moment to gather his thoughts._ _

__“Jake and I are on a break,” William admitted. “We had an argument, two weeks ago. We’re still living with each other and together romantically but… we haven’t really spoken to each other much lately. Jake’s moved to sleep in the guest room. It’s… pretty bad.”_ _

__“What did you argue about?”_ _

__Now William appeared both guilty and slightly embarrassed. “I asked him if one day he’d like to have kids,” he muttered. “And he said that gay guys don’t need to think about that until after they and their partner have become really serious about their relationship. So I asked him if he thought whether or not we were serious and… I don’t know. He didn’t react well.”_ _

__“Oh, Will.”_ _

__“I don’t need pity.” He kicked his chair back, rolling away from Oliver. “Jake and I will sort it out. We’ve always got over our arguments before. We’ll be fine, Dad. I promise.” Standing, he tucked the chair back in and threw his towel over his shoulder, ready to head back to the training session. Before he could hop back down the stairs, however, William glanced back at his father and requested warily, “Please don’t tell Felicity. Or Mia. I don’t want them to worry about me.”_ _

__“If that’s what you want, then I won’t say anything to them,” Oliver inclined his head._ _

__William nodded, relieved. He switched his gaze to his baby brother. “Hey, that goes for you too, squirt,” he said, making the ‘I’m watching you’ movement at Lucas with his fingers. “Got it?”_ _

__Lucas huffed in Oliver’s arms._ _

__“Actually -” William bent down to scoop his baby brother from the archer’s lap, cuddling him to his chest. “Lucas, why don’t you come with me to watch our sister kick some ass? I’m sure once you’re old enough, you’ll be training just like her. Best to start studying and shadowing now, right, bud?”_ _

__Mia was worn out by the time they finished their training. Dinah, Rene, and John praised her for hours after, which made her preen happily. When they returned to their apartment for dinner, William helped Mia with her primary school homework while Oliver cooked, Lucas napping in a cot in the living room. He’d invited both John and Lyla to dinner (Zoe was babysitting JJ and Connor), so the two of them sat at the counter chatting with the archer as he prepared a casserole._ _

__Felicity strolled in just as Oliver was placing the dish into the oven, casting her jacket aside onto the floor carefully and kicking off her shoes. The bags under her eyes and frown on her told Oliver that her day at Smoak Tech had not gone particularly well. Exhausted, she hobbled through to the living room to greet Lucas, kissing the baby and cuddling him, and called out hello to Mia and William. The kids shouted back their own hellos, but didn’t rush out, which indicated they were in the middle of something._ _

__“Hey,” Oliver said softly, moving around the kitchen island to hug and kiss her. “How’d it go?”_ _

__“Don’t wanna talk about it,” she groaned, resting her head on his chest. “Meeting’s gonna continue on Monday.”_ _

__“Sit down.” He cast a swift look back at Lyla and John, and they followed them through to the living room as Oliver guided his wife to the couch and sat her down. Felicity’s head lolled and she finally relaxed when Oliver started gently massaging her feet. “Do you want a slice of cake?”_ _

__“Can’t. It’s for Mia’s birthday.”_ _

__“I bought two. I had a feeling you might need cake tonight. I also bought mint chip ice cream and cookie dough brownies.”_ _

__“Marry me.”_ _

__“Already did, honey.” He flashed his wedding ring before returning to kneading his fingers into her tense muscles, moving up to her calves. “And we have three kids.”_ _

__“Hmm. Aren’t you lucky?”_ _

__“Incredibly.”_ _

__Cracking her eyes open, Felicity gave him a fond smile. Turning to their guests, she apologized, “Sorry, guys, I’m not going to be very good company this evening.”_ _

__“We’ll take your company in whatever form we get it,” John told her warmly. “We’ve missed you.”_ _

__Mia scampered in at that point, glancing around for her mother, and her excited expression transformed into one of quiet concern when she saw Felicity lying slumped on the couch. Without saying anything, the five-year-old clambered up beside her and snuggled up to her. Exhaling slowly, Felicity wrapped her arms around their daughter to embrace her back, burying her nose in Mia’s blonde hair._ _

__“I love you, Mommy,” Mia murmured._ _

__“I love you too, baby.”_ _

__“I’m sorry you didn’t have a nice day at work. Do you want to open my birthday presents tomorrow? Will it help you feel better?”_ _

__“That’s very sweet of you, Mia, but they’re your presents and it’s your birthday. I’ll feel better seeing you be happy.”_ _

__Mia was very happy on her birthday. She enjoyed pancakes with bananas, ice cream and chocolate syrup for breakfast and opened up a couple of her presents from her parents and siblings in her pajamas, squealing over her Emerald Archer vest from Oliver, fighting gloves from William, and new books from Felicity. Oliver was pleasantly surprised to find that Jake had actually sent Mia a gift: a plush cuddly toy version of Pixel the cat._ _

__The bunker was already decorated when they arrived, and Mia was met with streamers, balloons and her extended family cheering for her. Birthday cake and pizza were shared out, and after Mia had opened her gifts from the team - they were very generous, considering that they barely got to see her during the year - she went off with JJ and Connor to play in the ball pit that John and Lyla had set up in the training area for them. It was adorable seeing them together, and Oliver noticed that Mia and Connor seemed particularly drawn to one another. Felicity rolled her eyes when she saw Oliver watching him, nudging him and suggesting they make some cocktails (and mocktails for her and Lyla, since both breastfeeding and pregnant women shouldn’t drink) using the Russian vodka he’d left behind in the cabinets. Rene and Dinah challenged William to take a straight shot to see whether or not he had his father’s ability to down vodka like water (not that Oliver did that much anymore) and they all laughed their asses off when Will ended up choking mid-shot, gasping out that he was never drinking again._ _

__“Thank you for my party today, Daddy,” Mia said with a bright smile, as Oliver made her waffles for dinner, as she’d requested. “It was the perfect birthday.”_ _

__“Yeah?”_ _

__“Uh huh. I loved my cake and I had all my family there, and all my presents were amazing.”_ _

__“Well, your birthday isn’t over yet,” Felicity grinned, sliding up behind their daughter and beginning to twist her hair into a thick braid. “You’ve got two more presents before the day is over.”_ _

__Mia perked up, interest picqued. “I do?”_ _

__“Yup.” Oliver pulled up a chair, sitting beside Mia and fishing out a small wrapped box from his pocket. Handing it over, he nodded to her._ _

__Mia ripped the paper and carefully opened the box on the tabletop. The star necklace inside twinkled in the lights. Delicately taking it out, Mia ran the platinum chain through her fingers and turned it around to read the inscription ‘ _always and forever, our little star_ ’ on the back._ _

__“Your daddy made you that necklace before you were born, and gave it to you on your birthday. Your _actual_ birth day,” Felicity told her gently. “But you were too little to take care of it back then, and might have hurt yourself with it; I’ve kept it for you. Daddy and I have decided that you’re old and wise enough now to wear it, and take care of it.”_ _

__“Wow,” Mia said, her voice hushed with awe._ _

__“Do you want me to help you put it on?” Oliver asked._ _

__“Yes please.” He clipped it around her neck, smoothing her hair braids back. Mia fiddled with the star pendant between her fingers for a few seconds before turning around and throwing her arms around her father in a big hug. “Thank you so much, Daddy.”_ _

__“One more present,” Felicity said. “Are you ready for it?”_ _

__“Did you make me a necklace too?”_ _

__Felicity chuckled. “No, sweetheart, I’m not as good at welding and metalwork as your daddy. I am, however, very good at finding people.”_ _

__Mia’s last sixth birthday present stepped into the apartment through the front door silently, and the six-year-old only noticed her arrival when Oliver and Felicity both turned to the person, their faces breaking out into wide grins._ _

__“AUNTIE NYSSA!” Mia shrieked in delight, sprinting towards her._ _

__Nyssa caught her around the waist, swinging her high into the air with a joyous laugh. “Hello, _'iishraq_. Did you miss me?”_ _

__“So much!” Mia was clinging to her like a limpet, refusing to be put down. “Are you coming back? Are you staying? Are you gonna come home with us to Bloomfield?”_ _

__Nyssa’s face fell. “Unfortunately not, dear one,” she told her softly. “I am only here for a couple of days, then I must return to Japan to meet up with your Aunt Thea and Uncle Roy.”_ _

__“That’s okay,” Mia said. “I’m just really happy you’re here now. Thank you for coming for my birthday.” Her eyes lit up. “Come on, you have to come meet Lucas! He’s my baby brother, you missed him being born. Maybe when he’s older, you can help train him as well!”_ _

__Mia spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Nyssa, William, and Lucas, leaving Oliver and Felicity to enjoy a little alone time in the kitchen, where the archer made the two of them sushi (creating a small platter for Nyssa to eat later, as well). He wasn’t an expert by any means, but it was great to spend time together knowing that their children were happy in the living room with their aunt._ _

__Nyssa joined the adults to drink wine and eat chocolate later on once the kids had gone to bed, and she updated them on Thea and Roy. The two of them were still tracking down and destroying the Lazarus Pits, but they would soon be retiring and settling down themselves; they’d bought a nice beach front property in Bali, where they planned to live after they were finished in Japan. Oliver and Felicity were shocked and delighted to learn that Thea was pregnant - four months, in fact, with _twins_. A boy and a girl, who Nyssa informed them Thea and Roy had already decided to call Matthew and Olivia. They were keeping it on the down-low, just like the Smoak-Queens had done when it came to Mia, as there were a couple of rogue ex-League assassins floating around still. Hopefully, they would get the chance to meet up soon._ _

__The next day, Nyssa asked to take William and Mia out the next day while Felicity was at another Smoak Tech meeting, leaving Oliver with Lucas. He took his son down to the bunker, where Rene, Dinah, and John were training; Lyla was at work and the other kids were at school, so it was kind of quiet, but it was a nice quietness. Oliver was able to work on more Emerald Archer financials and get in contact with Holly and the rest of the staff, asking them for their ideas about branching out the company._ _

__“Have you considered opening up a gym here in the city?” Rene asked, as they ate Big Belly Burger for lunch at the conference table together. “Could probably use one in the Glades.”_ _

__“It’s a good idea,” Oliver nodded. “We’re probably going to aim to open a couple of gyms closer to Bloomfield before moving into the bigger cities, though. You up for running a center in the Glades when we eventually set one up in the future?”_ _

__“Yeah, sounds great.”_ _

__“I’m down as well,” Dinah piped up, from where was balancing Lucas on her knees. He kept on trying to grab her onion rings, releasing faint whimpers when Dinah pushed them out of his reach._ _

__“Hey, you’ve already got a job!” Rene scowled playfully. “Miss Captain of the SCPD.” He cast a glance over at Oliver. “Did you know she’s up for Commissioner?”_ _

__“Dinah, that’s incredible!”_ _

__“Thanks, Oliver. I don’t know if I’ll get it - the fact I’m a police captain while also being the Black Canary is still a little controversial with upper management, not to mention the fact that I’m a woman and all the other candidates are men - but I’m just thankful to be up for consideration.”_ _

__“You have ARGUS and Knightwatch’s full support,” John said with a smile._ _

__“How is Knightwatch going?” Oliver asked curiously._ _

__Knightwatch was a new organization John had set up a year ago, separate from ARGUS but similar in many aspects. By day, it was a private firm that provided large scale companies with security systems that used Smoak Tech technology; by night, it was a global security corporation that supplied connections between ARGUS, the CIA, NSA, and FBI._ _

__“We’re still a small operation, but we’re growing slowly and steadily,” John reported. “I feel like I have a purpose outside Team Arrow again, and I’m doing what I want to be doing.”_ _

__“I’m happy for you.”_ _

__“And I’m happy for you,” John echoed, smiling as Dinah passed Lucas back over to Oliver when he started fussing again. The baby immediately fell silent, comfortable once he was back in his father’s arms. “Retirement suits you. You look good as a family man.”_ _

__“Nothing else I’d rather be,” Oliver grinned. He patted Lucas’ back gently; the baby curled up against him, snuffling into his shirt and dropping off to sleep._ _

__They returned to Bloomfield well-rested and vacationed-out at the end of the week. Felicity had finally managed to sort out all the business with Smoak Tech, with the Overwatch satellite launch delayed until January 2026 and control of the code fully back in her hands. William went back to university and Nyssa traveled back to Japan, after a good several days spent with Mia and Lucas. Although they arrived back home on a Thursday, Mia was set to return to school on the Monday, so she enjoyed training some more with Oliver and going shopping with Felicity on her days off._ _

__On Saturday, Mia was set to help out as Oliver’s assistant at her first beginner’s kids session, after her normal expert one. She changed into her official Emerald Archer vest in Oliver’s office between classes and went over the teaching points with him as they set up the gym. They were practicing certain floor holds and escapes today; Mia knew and could execute them all with her eyes shut. Oliver suggested she aid him in some demonstrations and then spend the rest of the session wandering around to correct form and posture, and being a partner to children who needed a more hands-on teaching approach. Despite being confident about the training she was going to help give, Mia was still nervous._ _

__Everything seemed to be going smoothly at the beginning of the class. Because it was the beginning of a new school term, and most of the kids from last year had moved up into an intermediate session, the class was mostly filled with newcomers. Oliver introduced Mia to the kids as his assistant and then the two of them showed them the holds and escapes they would be working on. He got Mia to explain what the holds felt like, how easy they were to hold, and what they should look out for if their opponent was trying to escape. She relaxed with every minute, her confidence growing, once she saw that the children were all listening and watching them intently._ _

__“Well done, sweetie,” Oliver murmured, dropping a kiss on her head as the class dispersed and paired up on their separate mats to begin practicing the holds themselves. “You’re doing so great.”_ _

__“Thanks, Dad.”_ _

__He quirked an eyebrow. “Oh, I’m Dad now? Not Daddy?”_ _

__“I’m a big girl now,” Mia said. “Sammy hasn’t got a partner so I’m gonna pair up with her. It looks like Jamie needs help with his triangle arm hold... he’s gonna choke Alex holding him like that.” She was putting on a very polite, professional voice that Oliver just knew she had to have copied from Felicity._ _

__“Of course, Miss Smoak-Queen,” he gave a little mock bow, that made her crack a grin and giggle. “Better get to it, then.”_ _

__As Oliver moved around the room, helping out various pairs who were struggling, he kept a watchful eye on his daughter, who was teaching Sammy, an eight-year-old girl, how to pin somebody effectively._ _

__Mia was lying on her back with Sammy sitting on top of her stomach, the girl pinning her wrists down, as she commented, “You’re really strong.”_ _

__Sammy beamed. “Thanks.”_ _

__Smirking, Mia wrapped her legs around Sammy’s back and then within less than a second, flipped them over so she can Sammy on her back and pinned instead._ _

__Sammy stared up at her, impressed. “You’re really strong too!”_ _

__“Thank you. Let me show you how to stop somebody doing what I just did to you.” She rolled them back over, and gave Sammy time to get settled on top of her again. Once the girl was comfortable, Mia shifted her knees and legs so they were arranged differently either side of her torso. “Okay, now hold my wrists down like you did before. Good! See, now I can’t get my legs around you. You’ve trapped me.”_ _

__“Really?” Sammy looked delighted. “Cool. Is there still a way to get out of it, though?”_ _

__“Uh huh.” Mia coiled her leg up until she had her shin resting against Sammy’s knee, and then kicked out and slammed her wrists up. Sammy slumped on top of her and she was then able to worm out from underneath her, roll her over and clamber on top. “Want me to show you how to do it?”_ _

__“Yeah!”_ _

__About half an hour in, Oliver called a water break and for everybody to switch their pairs around. Mia skipped over and drank from their shared water bottle and, finishing it off, crossed over to the other side of the room to re-fill it. As Oliver wrapped a kid’s hands, as he’d hit his knuckles hard on the floor after accidentally rolling off the mats, he observed silently as two eleven-year-old boys he knew to be troublemakers approached his daughter. His instincts screamed at him to intervene - to protect his daughter from these two boys he knew would want to start a fight with her - but he knew that Mia would easily be able to handle herself._ _

__“You’re half my age, you can’t be an assistant trainer,” Jonathan said cruelly, tugging at her vest top from behind. “You’re just a baby.”_ _

__“Turn around and walk away,” Mia told him, her voice coldly calm. She continued to refill the water bottle as if the boys had never come up to her._ _

__“Pretending to be intimidating doesn’t make you strong,” the other boy, Max, crossed his arms over his chest. “You might be the Green Arrow’s daughter but you’re still just a little girl. You’re small, and weak. You can’t teach us self-defense.”_ _

__“Did you not hear what I said?” Mia shot them an annoyed look. “Walk away.”_ _

__“I could fight you,” Jonathan claimed. “I bet I could beat you in less than ten seconds.”_ _

__It was more likely that Mia could beat him in less than five._ _

__“You boys think you can fight my daughter?” Oliver asked casually, strolling over._ _

__Both Jonathan and Max startled at his approach, but after processing his question, the two of them exchanged glances and nodded bravely._ _

__“Everybody move into Gym 2,” Oliver announced aloud, addressing the whole class. “Jonathan and Max are going to fight Mia in the ring. They don’t think that she’s strong enough to be my assistant trainer. She’s going to prove them wrong.”_ _

__Mia remained calm and collected as she led the way into the gym with the ring cage, wrapping her hands expertly as she walked. The two boys trailed behind her, scoffing at her actions. Oliver couldn’t help but smirk to himself; they’d soon be regretting their words. He’d been running a 'three strikes and you're out' system at the MMA center since it had first been established, and both Jonathan and Max were already on two strikes, despite only having been in his class for a little under a month. They were both immature and nasty bullies, and had got away with a lot of shit already. Neither of their parents cared about their awful behavior. The boys deserved to be expelled from the classes, and if Mia beat them, it would give him the perfect opportunity to._ _

__Mia ducked under the ropes and bounced up and down on her heels, waiting for the fight to begin, as cool as a cucumber. The two boys paused, looking around at Oliver._ _

__“You want us both to fight her?” Jonathan asked. “At the same time?”_ _

__“Yeah, go ahead.”_ _

__“But we’ll hurt her,” Max said._ _

__“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”_ _

__Jonathan and Max glanced at each other again. “Just don’t aim for her face,” Jonathan told his friend._ _

__The boys climbed into the ring, facing off against Oliver’s daughter. Hilariously, Mia already looked bored of all of this._ _

__“If you can’t handle anymore, you tap out, and you lose. If you’re in a hold for longer than five seconds, you lose,” Oliver informed them, motioning for the rest of the class to sit down on the floor._ _

__“Two against one isn’t fair,” Max said. “She can’t get us both into holds at the same time.”_ _

__“You wanna bet?” Sammy snickered._ _

__“You’re right, Max,” Oliver allowed. “This match is weighted. But I’m warning you both now - it’s not in favor of the two of you winning. Apologize to Mia for what you said, and we’ll consider that a concession. You won’t lose, but you won’t win, either.”_ _

__“Nah, I wanna win,” Jonathan said cockily._ _

__Oliver shook his head, amused. Turning to Mia, he met her eyes and requested, “Keep it clean, please. Getting blood off the spring mats is a pain. Oh, and make it quick. We’ll still have time to go over the blocks I taught them last week, then.”_ _

__“I know, Dad,” Mia said innocently. “Don’t worry, it’ll be over in a minute.”_ _

__It was over in thirty seconds. The boys lunged towards his daughter, but she dodged under their arms; she tripped Jonathan and he crashed to the ground while Mia vaulted up onto Max’s shoulders, constricted his throat using her thighs and forced him down to the floor as well. She used her legs to hold Max and arms to choke out Jonathan. Both of the boys struggled in the holds, but were unable to break out of them, wheezing as they flailed. They both refused to tap out, but Mia was easily able to hold them both down for ten seconds. Oliver called the end of the match and the two boys were all too eager to scramble away from Mia, terrified of her. Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Mia sauntered out of the ring with a smug, satisfied smile._ _

__“Jonathan, Max, go grab your bags and water bottles. You’re done,” Oliver told them, giving his daughter a high-five. “Mia, take the class back into the other gym and set them up with some focus pads.”_ _

__“Got it, Dad. Come on, guys.” Mia motioned for the other kids to follow her. They jumped up to follow her like a loyal pack, most likely having a new found respect for the six-year-old after seeing her so effortlessly beat two boys twice her size and weight._ _

__Mia helped out at the next three sessions that day as well, but none of the other older kids challenged her, probably because word had spread through the children, who gossiped while classes were switching over just as much as they would if they were on a playground. She was wonderful, and Oliver instantly knew that she had a natural talent when it came to communicating and teaching others._ _

__“You were amazing today, little star,” Oliver whispered to her, sweeping the six-year-old up onto his hip and planting a kiss on her cheek. They were finished for the day and heading out to the parking lot. “Did you have fun?”_ _

__“Yeah. I like helping teach the other kids.”_ _

__“Wanna go get some ice cream?”_ _

__“From _Sprinkle Sundaes_?” Mia asked hopefully._ _

__“Yep. And I won’t even insist you pick out one with fruit in it. You can have all the chocolate curls and caramel sauce you want.” He winked at her. “We don’t have to tell Mommy.”_ _

__“Whoop whoop!” Mia threw her arms into the air._ _

__The months and lives of the Smoak-Queens continued._ _

__Mia continued to thrive at school, in her MMA training classes and as a growing little girl, developing her skills and getting stronger every day. She won her first Junior MMA Championships in November, with Nyssa and her whole family cheering her on._ _

__William won an award at MIT for outstanding contribution, as he invented a new piece of biotechnical equipment for non-invasive diagnosis, and he finally brought his boyfriend Jake home for Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas. He disclosed to Oliver privately that he was planning on proposing in a couple of months time._ _

__Lucas took his first steps and spoke his first word: “Mee-ya.” He had a lot of baby playdates with John and Lyla's baby daughter Sara and came to adore his big sister._ _

__Felicity’s Overwatch satellite successfully launched in January 2026, just as planned, and Smoak Tech boomed on the market and shifted from being a multi-million dollar company to being a multi-billion dollar conglomerate. She was awarded the International Outstanding Women in STEM prize for her creation of the Archer program._ _

__Oliver was able to expand Emerald Archer Martial Arts so they had five other centers based in the state, training both children and adults in self-defense. Although he remained focused on teaching in the Hatchinfield center, the main one in Star City opened in March 2026 to a roaring success and was run by Team Arrow, making it incredibly popular._ _

__In May 2026, the Smoak-Queen family were blessed once again. Felicity was discovered to be pregnant again._ _

__It turned out that twins must run on Moira’s side of the family._ _

__On the last day of Hanukkah, their second daughter, Adeline Megan Smoak-Queen, and their third son, Thomas John Smoak-Queen, were born, surrounded by their friends and family._ _

__And everything,_ _

__Was blissful._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed xx Feel free to contact me on Twitter or Tumblr!
> 
> Twitter: @lexiblackbriar  
> Tumblr: @alexiablackbriar
> 
> I'd be thrilled to hear from you!


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